Nell of Shorne Mills

She sighed again, and stood, with her habit half unbuttoned, looking

beyond the glass into the past few happy weeks. Yes, it would seem very

dull and dreary when he was gone.

But he still lingered on; his arm got well, his step was strong and

firm, his voice and manner less grave and moody. He rode or sailed with

her every day, Dick sometimes accompanying them; but he was only

postponing the hour of his departure, and putting it away from him with

a half-hesitating hand.

One afternoon, Dick burst into the sitting room--they were at tea--with

a couple of parcels; one, a small square like a box, the other, a larger

and heavier one.

"Just come by the carrier," he said; "addressed to 'Drake Vernon,

Esquire.' The little one is registered. The carrier acted as auxiliary

postman, and wants a receipt."

Drake signed the paper absently, with a scrawl of the pen which Dick

brought him, and Dick, glancing at the signature mechanically, said: "Well, that's a rum way of writing 'Vernon'!"

Drake looked up from cutting the string of the small box, and frowned

slightly.

"Give it me back, please," he said, rather sharply. "It isn't fair to

write so indistinctly."

Dick handed the receipt form back, and Drake ran his pen quickly through

the "Selbie" which he had scrawled unthinkingly, and wrote Drake Vernon

in its place.

Dick took the altered paper unsuspectingly to the carrier.

"So kind of you to trouble, Mr. Vernon!" said Mrs. Lorton. "As if it

mattered how you wrote! My poor father used to say that only the

illiterate were careful of their handwriting, and that illegible

caligraphy--it is caligraphy, is it not?--was a sign of genius."

"Then I must be one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived," said

Drake.

"And I'm another--if indifferent spelling is also a sign," said Dick

cheerfully; "and Nell must cap us both, for she can neither write nor

spell; few girls can," he added calmly. "Tobacco, Mr. Vernon?" nodding

at the box.

By this time Drake had got its wrapper off and revealed a jewel case. He

handed it to Mrs. Lorton with the slight awkwardness of a man giving a

present.

"Here's a little thing I hope you will accept, Mrs. Lorton," he said.

"For me!" she exclaimed, bridling, and raising her brows with juvenile

archness. "Are you sure it's for me? Now, shall I guess----"

"Oh, no, you don't, mamma," said Dick emphatically. "I'll open it if you

can't manage it. Oh, I say!" he exclaimed, as Mrs. Lorton opened the

case, and the sparkle of diamonds was emitted.