"Oh! you know listeners never hear anything good about themselves.
Hattie was listening and never said a word about it until she got
home, and then Hattie's mother went to all the folks who were mixed
up in it and they had an awful time of it. Oh, yes, and what do you
think?----" Lottie gave another piece of news of much more
importance to her brother than the preceding one, but he very
quietly kept his own counsel, and soon after dismissed the little
maiden, that he might take up a few hours of hard study. The student
lamp was lighted, and new fuel added to the grate. Phillip Lawson
sat himself down; but it cost him great effort to concentrate his
thoughts upon the work before him. Still he labored on and fought
manfully with the intruding thoughts, that, despite all resistance,
would at times be heard. But duty gained the victory, and it was not
until the young man had placed the much-prized manuscript in its
resting place, drawn his chair nearer the hearth, and lit a cigar
with the blessed expectation of having a puff of the weed, that he
again reverted to the banished subject.
"How the child could hear such a thing! Much as I dislike gossip I
should, like to question her further, but I dare not encourage such
things in a child," murmured the young man, involuntarily pressing
his hand upon his brow, as if bent upon study.
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