"But I want you to read it for me again."
"Let me have it, Miss Edith," said Mr. Carleton smiling,--"I will read it for you."
"Ah but it would be twice as good if you could hear her read it," said Edith, fluttering over the leaves of the magazine,--"she reads it so well. It's so funny--about the coffee and buckwheat cakes."
"What is that, Edith?" said her mother.
"Something Mr. Carleton is going to read for me, mamma."
"Don't you trouble Mr. Carleton."
"It won't trouble him, mamma--he promised of his own accord."
"Let us all have the benefit of it, Mr. Carleton," said the lady.
It is worthy of remark that Fleda's politeness utterly deserted her during the reading of both this piece and the last. She as near as possible turned her back upon the reader.
"Merrily sang the crickets forth
One fair October night;--
And the stars looked down, and the northern crown
Gave its strange fantastic light.