“Am I? I thought I was here, but no matter. Here or there, I meant to be the first to wish you a happy New Year!”
“How nice of you!” cried Sheila, bubbling over with delight at the beautiful sight before her, and the happy feeling of having a friend at her side, “but you did go there surely?”
“Oh, yes, I showed up and did my duty; but somehow it seemed dull and flat. Something was wanting. Then, you know, this is the place of all others for seeing the whole panorama of the illumination. Up there you are too much in the middle of it. So I just made my escape, got a fellow to run me down to the bottom of the hill, and here I am. Are you glad to see me, Sheila?”
She looked frankly into his eyes, but saw there something that made her suddenly drop her own. With a new sense of shyness she dropped his arm, yet her voice had a happy ring in it as she answered—
“I am very glad to see you. I wish you a happy New Year too.”
“And I mean to get one,” said Ronald, suddenly possessing himself of her hand.
(To be continued.)
VARIETIES.
Good Manners.—To be always thinking about your manners is not the way to make them good; the very perfection of manners is not to think about yourself.