"Cornelius, may I speak to you?"
"No:" he started up, walked across the garden, came back and threw himself down, exclaiming—
"It will never be finished, never!"
"Cornelius," I said again, "let me speak to you now."
"Speak, and have done with it," he said, impatiently.
"If I go to bed early, may I not get up early? Early to bed and early to rise, you know."
He bent on me a face that lit with sudden gladness.
"And will you really do that for me?" he asked eagerly. "Will you, who hate going to bed early, do that for my sake?"
"Oh yes, Cornelius, and be so glad to help you a little!"
"God bless you, my good little girl!" cried Cornelius, as he caught me up in his arms, and accompanied the benediction with a warm kiss, "I shall never forget that, never!"