"Come, sit by me, little Mara," said the minister, putting out his hand; "you and I must be friends, I see."
Mr. Sewell had a certain something of mesmeric power in his eyes which children seldom resisted; and with a shrinking movement, as if both attracted and repelled, the little girl got upon his knee.
"So you like the Bible and Roman history?" he said to her, making a little aside for her, while a brisk conversation was going on between Captain Kittridge and Captain Pennel on the fishing bounty for the year.
"Yes, sir," said Mara, blushing in a very guilty way.
"And which do you like the best?"
"I don't know, sir; I sometimes think it is the one, and sometimes the other."
"Well, what pleases you in the Roman history?"
"Oh, I like that about Quintus Curtius."
"Quintus Curtius?" said Mr. Sewell, pretending not to remember.
"Oh, don't you remember him? why, there was a great gulf opened in the Forum, and the Augurs said that the country would not be saved unless some one would offer himself up for it, and so he jumped right in, all on horseback. I think that was grand. I should like to have done that," said little Mara, her eyes blazing out with a kind of starry light which they had when she was excited.