I have heard that Cupid is blind, but of 

 that I believe not a word, Indeed, I have 

 a confirmation strong, that the malicious 

 little knave has a sort of clairvoyance, and can 

 see a heart where few would expect one to 

 exist ; for $id he not perch himself, now in 

 the eye and now on the lip of Kitty Coleman, 

 and, with a marvellously steady aim (imi- 

 tating a personage a trifle more dreaded), 

 " Cut down all, 

 Both great and small?" 



Blind ! no, no ! If the laughing rogue did 

 fail in a single instance, it was not that he 

 aimed falsely, or had emptied his quiver 

 before. Harry Raymond must have had a 

 tough heart, and so the arrow rebounded. 

 Oh! a .very stupid fellow was that Harry 

 Raymond ! and Kitty hesitated not to say 

 it ; for after Avalking and riding with her all 

 through the leafy month of June, what right 

 had he to grow dignified all of a sudden, and 

 look upon her, when he did it at all, as 

 though she had been a naughty child that 

 deserved tying up ? To be sure, Harry 

 Raymond was a scholar and in love, as 

 everybody said, with his books ; but pray 

 what book is there of them all that could 

 begin to compare with Kitty Coleman. 



There used to be delightful little gather- 

 ings in our village, and Kitty must of course 

 be there ; and Harry, stupid as he was, always 

 went too. People were of course glad to see 

 him, for the honor was something, if the com- 

 pany had otherwise been ever so undesirable. 

 But Kitty hesitated not to show her dislike. 

 She declared he did not know how to be civil ; 

 and then she sighed (doubtless at the boor- 

 ishness of scholars in general, and this one in 

 particular) ; and then she laughed so long 

 and musically, that the curate, the lawyer, 

 the schoolmaster, and the clerk, all joined in 

 the chorus ; though for the life of them, they 

 could not have told what the lady laughed 

 at. Harry Raymond only looked towards 

 the group, muttered something in a very ill- 

 natured tone about butterflies, and then 

 turned his back upon them, and gazed out 

 of the window, though it was very certain he 

 could see nothing in the pitchy darkness. 

 It was very strange that Kitty Coleman 

 should have disregarded entirely the opinion 

 of such a distinguished gentleman as Harry 

 Raymond ; for he had travelled, and he 

 sported an elegant wardrobe, and owned a 

 gay equipage, a fine house and grounds, " and 

 everything that was handsome." But she 

 only laughed the louder when she saw he 

 was displeased. Indeed, his serious face 

 seemed to infuse the concentrated, double- 

 distilled spirit of mirthfulness into her ; and 

 a more frolicksome creature never existed 

 than Kitty was, until he was gone. Then, 

 all of a sudden, she grew fatigued, and must 

 go home immediately. 



It was as much on Harry Raymond's 

 account as her own that aunt Martha was 

 distressed at the hoydenish manners of her 

 romping niece, and found it her duty to ex- 

 postulate every day. But Kitty insisted that 

 her manners were not hoydenish, and if her 

 heart overflowed it was not her fault. She 

 could not shut up all her glad feelings within 

 her ; they would leap back at the call of their 

 kindred gushing from other bosoms, and to 

 all the beautiful things of creation as joyous 

 in their mute eloquence as she was. Besides, 

 the wicked little Kitty Coleman was very 

 angry that her aunt Martha should attempt 

 to govern her conduct by the likings of Harry 

 Raymond ; and to show that she did not care 

 an apple-blossom for him, nor his opinions 

 either, she was more unreasonably gay in his 

 presence than anywhere else. But, whatever 

 Harry Raymond might think, he did not 

 slander the little lady. Indeed he never was 

 heard to speak of her but once, and then he 

 said she had no soul. A pretty judge of souls 

 he, to be sure ! a man that never laughed ! 

 How can people who go through the world, 

 cold and still like the clods they tread upon, 

 pretend to know anything about soul. 



But, notwithstanding the enmity of the 

 young people, Harry Raymond used to go to 

 Squire Coleman's, and talk all the evening 

 with the squire and aunt Martha, while his 

 big black eye turned slowly in the direction 

 Kitty moved, like the bewitching sylphide 

 that she was ; but Kitty did not look at him, 

 not she ! What right had a stranger, and 

 her father's guest too, to act out his reproof 

 in such a manner ? 



When Harry went away, he would bow 

 easily and gracefully to the old people, but 

 to the young lady he found it difficult to 

 bend. Conduct like this provoked Kitty 

 Coleman beyond endurance ; and., one even- 

 ing, after the squire and spinster had left her 

 alone, she sat down, and < in^very M&]pite, 

 sobbed away as though her little heart would 

 break. Now it happened that the squire had 

 lent his visitor a book that evening, which, 

 strange enough for such a scholar, he had for- 

 gotten to take with him ; but luckily Harry 

 remembered it before it was too late, and 

 turned upon his heel. The door was open, 

 and so he stepped at once into the parlor. 

 Poor Kitty sprang to her feet at the intru- 

 sion, and crushed with her fingers two tears 

 that were just ready to launch themselves 

 on the roundest and rosiest cheeks in the 

 world ; but she might have done better than 

 blind herself ; for, by some means, her feet 

 came in unintentional contact with aunt 

 Martha's faateuil, and her forehead, in con- 

 sequence, found it resting very unceremo- 

 niously on the neck of Rover. 



It is very awkward to be surprised in the 

 luxurious abandon of tears at any time ; and 



