Page:Far from the Maddening Girls.djvu/89

 Darius Doane, a trial. He is very willing and anxious to please, and besides finding him useful, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you are enabling him to aid his mother in supporting an invalid husband.

“.”

As I finished this epistle I was conscious of a swishing sound, and looked up to find Darius sweeping the piazza. To this day I cannot imagine where he found the broom. He replied to my questioning glance with what I should have supposed an impossible enlargement of his former grin.

“I t’ought I might uz well git roight ter woik,” he observed, and forthwith I perceived that there was no way out of it but to give Darius Doane a trial. At the moment, I had no suspicion of how many trials Darius Doane was destined to give me.

How Darius did not perform his duties there is not space to tell. His age was twelve,