I bit my lip, for I found myself inclined to smile, and did not wish to be observed. But the old gentleman remarked the expression of my face, and looking over his spectacles archly said, "Ay, ay, my little schoolma'am! and so you don't think so highly of the Doctor as the rest of us, or do you sail under false colours just now?" "I have no cause for that," I replied, "and if I had, your penetration would find it out; so honesty is really my best policy, for no other reason than because I can have no other." "Well, time works wonders; I only desire that you settle among us, and I must say, prudence would hardly advise the Doctor at present; so take good care of yourself and all will come right," so giving me my receipt and a kiss on the cheek, I left the good couple in the act of counting out a hundred dollars for the Doctor. Weeks passed, and Lizzy, delighted at every new patient the Doctor had and at the increasing reputation she thought he was gaining, always had some interesting fact to relate to me when I returned from school at night. At one time he had refused all pay from a sick old woman, one of Lizzy's protégés, whom he visited daily. At another time, he had spent half a day in the garden with her good mother, budding, trimming, and tying up her bushes; again, he had gone into the field and mowed for three hours, to help her father, when there was a prospect of rain. "And wouldn't he make a good husband, Sissy dear?" she said. "Yes, love, if he was only a little more fiery, like Bonaparte, and had the courage and spirit of a hero." Lizzy looked annoyed. In the mean time, common report had, to my great vexation, coupled the Doctor's name with mine; but to attempt to stem the current of village gossip is like using Dame Partington's broom to sweep the sea. Firmness and patience are the only salves for such annoyances. Happily, a vacation of a week occurred, and I was to spend it with one of my pupils. On my return, it was a pleasant summer's evening, the doors were open, and the same vines and trees which the year before looked so inviting to the little homesick girl, were again loaded with blossoms. The old folks sat just inside the door enjoying the mild air, and Lizzy on an ottoman, which stood on the broad step. The Doctor, with a hideous black patch on the side of his forehead, and one arm in a sling, stood leaning in a picturesque attitude by her side. Lizzy's eyes looked milder than I ever saw them before, and when she turned them upon the Doctor, there was an expression of interest and sympathy which I had never noticed before. "The victory is won," I said to myself, and then, like a shadow on my heart, came those first impressions, which no after acquaintance had removed. Mr. Warner came forward to welcome me, and wait upon me into the house, saying to the Doctor, with a smile, "We will excuse all want of gallantry this evening."