to provoke criticism and his age too little to inspire fear she was ready � not to say pleased � to selecting from the some old family that in years i a pair of blue eyes by had been played and sung by her mother sat down to the and began twas on the evening of a winter s day in a pretty voice do you like that old thing mr smith she said at the end yes i do much said � words he would have uttered and sincerely to anything on earth from glee to that she might have chosen you shall have a little one by de that was given me by a young french lady who was staying at house je l ai je l ai ce beau oil les c and then i shall want to give you my own favourite for the very last s when the lamp is shattered as set to music by my poor mother i so much like singing to anybody who really cares to hear me every woman who makes a permanent impression on a man is usually recalled to his mind s eye as she appeared in one particular scene which seems ordained to be her special form of throughout the pages of his memory as the patron saint has her attitude and in illumination so the sweetheart may be said to have hers upon the table of her true love s fancy without which she is rarely introduced there except by effort and this though she may on further acquaintance have been observed in many other phases which one would imagine to be far more appropriate to love s young dream miss s image chose the form in which she was beheld during these minutes of singing for her permanent attitude of to s eyes during his sleeping and waking hours in after days the is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with of swan s down and opening up from a point in front like a waistcoat without a shirt the cool colour a pair of blue eyes admirably with the warm bloom of her neck and face the candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head and half invisible itself forms the accidentally hair into a haze of light surrounding her crown like an her hands are in their place on the keys her lips parted and forth in a tender the closing words of the sad o love who the of all things here why choose you the for your cradle your home and your her head is forward a little and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music her then comes a rapid look into s face and a still more rapid look back again to her business her face having dropped its sadness and acquired a certain expression of mischievous the while which lingered there for some time but was never developed into a positive smile of suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left where there was just room enough for a small to stand between the piano and the corner of the room into this nook he squeezed himself and gazed wistfully up into s face so long and so earnestly gazed he that her cheek deepened to a more and more crimson tint as each line was added to her song concluding and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two she ventured to look at him again his features wore an expression of unutterable you don t hear many songs do you mr smith to take so much notice of these of mine perhaps it was the means and vehicle of the song that i was noticing i mean yourself he answered gently � now mr smith so a pair of blue eyes it is perfectly true i don t hear much singing you mistake what i am i fancy because i come as a stranger to a secluded spot you think i must needs come from a life of bustle and know the latest movements of the day but i don t my life is as quiet as yours and more solitary solitary as death the death which comes from a of life but seriously i can quite see that you are not the least what i thought you would be before i saw you you are not critical or experienced or � much to mind that s why i don t mind singing airs to you that i only half know finding that by this confession she had vexed him in a way she did not intend she added i mean mr smith that you are better not worse for being only young and not very experienced you don t think my life here so very tame and dull i know i do not indeed he said with it must be delightfully poetical and sparkling and fresh and there you go mr smith well men of another kind when i get them to be honest enough to own the truth think just the reverse that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state though pleasant for the exceptional few days they pass here could live here always he said and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that was startled to find that her had fired a small in the shape of s heart she said quickly but you can t live here always oh no and he drew himself in with the of a s emotions were sudden as his in but the least of woman s lesser � love of caused an disposition on his part so exactly similar to her own to appear as in him as modesty made her own seem in her iv where the turf in many a mould ring heap jt or reasons 