But the forward spring of the fine-spirited horses, the quickened motion, the glittering sunlight, and the thought that he really was leaving behind him all the shackles of dependence and custom, and plunging into a life of freedom, drove all else from his mind.

He turned at last from this hopeful, blissful future, and began to examine his fellow passengers with boyish curiosity.

Wedged in between two silent men on the front seat, one of whom seemed a farmer, and the other, by his black attire, a professional man, Clarence was finally attracted by a black-mantled, dark-haired, bonnetless woman on the back seat, whose attention seemed to be monopolized by the jocular gallantries of her companions and the two men before her in the middle seat.

From her position he could see little more than her dark eyes, which occasionally seemed to meet his frank curiosity in an amused sort of way, but he was chiefly struck by the pretty foreign sound of her musical voice, which was unlike anything he had ever heard before, and--alas for the inconstancy of youth--much finer than Mrs.Peyton's.

Presently his farmer companion, casting a patronizing glance on Clarence's pea-jacket and brass buttons, said cheerily-- "Jest off a voyage, sonny ?" "No, sir," stammered Clarence; "I came across the plains." "Then I reckon that's the rig-out for the crew of a prairie schooner, eh ?" There was a laugh at this which perplexed Clarence.