LITTLE gard for her that he might have had for a dear maiden 

 JOURNEYS aunt who would mend his socks and listen patiently, 



pretending to be interested when he talked of parallelo- 

 grams and prismatic spectra. But evidently Mary Story 

 thought of him with a thrill for she stoutly resented 

 the boys calling him " Cold-feet." 

 In due time Isaac gravitated on to Cambridge. 

 Mary mooed a wee, but soon consoled herself with a 

 sure-enough lover, and was married to Mr. Vincent, a 

 worthy man and true, but one who had not sufficient 

 soul-caloric to make her forget her Isaac. 

 This friendship with Mary Story is often spoken of as 

 the one love affair in the life of Sir Isaac Newton. It 

 was all prosily platonic on his part, but as Mary lived 

 out her life at Grantham, and Sir Isaac Newton used 

 to go there occasionally, and when he did, always 

 called upon her, the relationship was certainly note- 

 worthy & ^t> 



The only break in that lifelong friendship occurred 

 when each was past fifty. Sir Isaac was paying his 

 little yearly call at Grantham ; and was seated in a rus- 

 tic arbor by the side of Mrs. Vincent, now grown gray, 

 and the mother of a goodly brood, well grown up. As 

 they thus sat talking of days agone, his thoughts ran 

 off upon quadratic equations, and to aid his mind in 

 following the thread, he absent-mindedly lighted his 

 pipe, and smoked in silence. As the tobacco died low, 

 he gazed about for a convenient utensil to use in push- 

 ing the ashes down in the bowl of his pipe. Looking 

 down he saw the lady's hand resting upon his knee, 

 76 



