The red spark shot from Mr. Van Alstine's eyes, and then he laughed:
"If ever I saw such a girl! I believe she wouldn't hesitate to regulate the solar system if she could only get her hand on the crank. She was talking to Overbeck the other day on the wickedness of selling the men tobacco at the store. But this won't do, Aunt Eugenia. I don't say I think snuff-taking a good habit, and I wouldn't advise young people to use tobacco in any shape, but I don't think eighty-eight is a good time to begin to leave it off, especially when one is blind into the bargain."
"I don't suppose I should have begun it if I hadn't always been blind," said Aunt Eugenia, "though the best and the most elegant people took snuff when I was young."
"To be sure; my mother always did. Come, now, let me fill your snuff-box and make you comfortable."
"But don't find fault with Marion," said the kind-hearted old lady, accepting the long used and sorely missed stimulant. "Marion naturally doesn't know what it is to have no eyes. She means well, I am sure, and she is very kind in reading to me. She is only a little conceited, and time will cure that."
"More than a little, I am afraid," said Mr. Van Alstine. "Never fear, auntie; I shall not be hard upon her, but I have seen for some time that Marion needs taking down a little. She has sense enough, if she did not think she had more than any one else in the world."
Nevertheless, Marion thought Mr. Van Alstine was very hard on her.
"See here, my girl, I want to tell you something," said he as he found her sitting on the verandah with a book. "Did you ever hear how it was that Mr. Abbott Lawrence made his great fortune?"
"No, sir," answered Marion, all unsuspicious.
"Well, I'll tell you: it was by minding his own business. I'm afraid you won't make one in the same way unless you begin pretty soon. I am very glad to have you do all you can for auntie, but don't meddle with her snuff-box again."