'You can't help yourself. Half the girls do it, either paint or powder, darken their lashes with burnt hair-pins, or take cologne on lumps of sugar or belladonna to make their eyes bright. Clara tried arsenic for her complexion, but her mother stopped it,' said Fanny, betraying the secrets of the prison-house in the basest manner.
'I knew you girls were a set of humbugs, and very pretty ones, too, some of you, but I can't say I like to see you painted up like a lot of actresses,' said Tom, with an air of disgust.
'I don't do anything of the sort, or need it, but Trix does; and having chosen her, you must abide your choice, for better or worse.'
'It has n't come to that yet,' muttered Tom, as he lay down again with a rebellious air.
Maud's return put an end to these confidences, though Tom excited her curiosity by asking the mysterious question, 'I say, Fan, is Polly up to that sort of thing?'
'No, she thinks it 's awful. When she gets pale and dragged out she will probably change her mind.'
'I doubt it,' said Tom.
'Polly says it is n't proper to talk secrets before people who ain't in 'em,' observed Maud, with dignity.
'Do, for mercy sake, stop talking about Polly, I 'm sick to death of it,' cried Fanny, snappishly.
'Hullo!' and Tom sat up to take a survey. 'I thought you were bosom friends, and as spoony as ever.'
'Well, I am fond of Polly, but I get tired of hearing Maud sing her praises everlastingly.
Now don't go and repeat that, chatterbox.'
'My goodness, is n't she cross?' whispered Maud to Tom.
'As two sticks; let her be. There 's the bell; see who it is, Pug,' answered Tom, as a tingle broke the silence of the house.
Maud went to peep over the banisters, and came flying back in a rapture.
'It 's Will come for me! Can't I go? It don't snow hard, and I 'll bundle up, and you can send for me when papa comes.'
'I don't care what you do,' answered Fan, who was in a very bad temper.
Without waiting for any other permission, Maud rushed away to get ready. Will would n't come up, he was so snowy, and Fanny was glad, because with her he was bashful, awkward, and silent, so Tom went down and entertained him with Maud's report. They were very good friends, but led entirely different lives, Will being a 'dig,' and Tom a
'bird,' or, in plain English, one was a hard student, and the other a jolly young gentleman. Tom had rather patronized Will, who did n't like it, and showed that he did n't by refusing to borrow money of him, or accept any of his invitations to join the clubs and societies to which Tom belonged. So Shaw let Milton alone, and he got on very well in his own way, doggedly sticking to his books, and resisting all temptations but those of certain libraries, athletic games, and such inexpensive pleasures as were within his means; for this benighted youth had not yet discovered that college nowadays is a place in which to 'sky-lark,' not to study.
When Maud came down and trotted contentedly away, holding Will's hand, Tom watched them out of sight, and then strolled about the house whistling and thinking, till he went to sleep in his father's arm-chair, for want of something better to do. He awoke to the joys of a solitary tea, for his mother never came down, and Fanny shut herself and her headache up in her own room.
'Well, this is cheerful,' he said, as the clock struck eight, and his fourth cigar came to an end. 'Trix is mad, and Fan in the dumps, so I 'll take myself off. Guess I 'll go round to Polly's, and ask Will to drive out with me, and save him the walk, poor chap. Might bring Midget home, it will please her, and there 's no knowing when the governor will be back.'
With these thoughts in his head, Tom leisurely got under way, and left his horse at a neighboring stable, for he meant to make a little call, and see what it was Maud enjoyed so much.
'Polly is holding forth,' he said to himself, as he went quietly up stairs, and the steady murmur of a pleasant voice came down to him. Tom laughed at Polly's earnest way of talking when she was interested in anything. But he liked it because it was so different from the coquettish clatter of most of the girls with whom he talked. Young men often laugh at the sensible girls whom they secretly respect, and affect to admire the silly ones whom they secretly despise, because earnestness, intelligence, and womanly dignity are not the fashion.
The door was ajar, and pausing in the dark entry Tom took a survey before he went in.
The prospect was not dazzling, but home-like and pleasant. The light of a bright fire filled the little room, and down on a stool before it was Maud tending Puttel, and watching with deep interest the roasting of an apple intended for her special benefit. On the couch lounged Will, his thoughtful eyes fixed on Polly, who, while she talked, smoothed the broad forehead of her 'yellow-haired laddie' in a way that Tom thought an immense improvement on Maud's performance. They had evidently been building castles in the air, for Polly was saying in her most impressive manner, 'Well, whatever you do, Will, don't have a great, costly church that takes so much money to build and support it that you have nothing to give away. I like the plain, old-fashioned churches, built for use, not show, where people met for hearty praying and preaching, and where everybody made their own music instead of listening to opera singers, as we do now. I don't care if the old churches were bare and cold, and the seats hard, there was real piety in them, and the sincerity of it was felt in the lives of the people. I don't want a religion that I put away with my Sunday clothes, and don't take out till the day comes round again; I want something to see and feel and live by day-by-day, and I hope you 'll be one of the true ministers, who can teach by precept and example, how to get and keep it.'
'I hope I shall be, Polly, but you know they say that in families, if there is a boy who can't do anything else, they make a minister of him. I sometimes think I ain't good for much, and that seems to me the reason why I should n't even try to be a minister,' said Will, smiling, yet looking as if with all his humility he did have faith in the aspirations that came to him in his best moments.
'Some one said that very thing to father once, and I remember he answered, 'I am glad to give my best and brightest son to the service of God.' '
'Did he say that?' and Will's color rose, for the big, book-loving fellow was as sensitive as a girl to the praise of those dearest to him.
'Yes,' said Polly, unconsciously giving the strongest stimulus to her brother's hope and courage. 'Yes, and he added, 'I shall let my boys follow the guide that is in them, and only ask of them to use their gifts conscientiously,
