to ascertain the exact material; nay, once or twice she was asked questions relative to some article which they particularly admired.  There was such a simple reliance on her womanly sympathy with their love of dress, and on her kindliness, that she gladly replied to these inquiries, as soon as she understood them; and half smiled back at their remarks.  She did not mind meeting any number of girls, loud spoken and boisterous though they might be.  But she alternately dreaded and fired up against the workmen, who commented not on her dress, but on her looks, in the same open fearless manner.  She, who had hitherto felt that even the most refined remark on her personal appearance was an impertinence, had to endure undisguised admiration from these outspoken men.  But the very out-spokenness marked their innocence of any intention to hurt her delicacy, as she would have perceived if she had been less frightened by the disorderly tumult.  Out of her fright came a flash of indignation which made her face scarlet, and her dark eyes gather flame, as she heard some of their speeches.  Yet there were other sayings of theirs, which, when she reached the quiet safety of home, amused her even while they irritated her.

For instance, one day, after she had passed a number of men, several of whom had paid her the not unusual compliment of wishing she was their sweetheart, one of the lingerers added, ‘Your bonny face, my lass, makes the day look brighter.’  And another day, as she was unconsciously smiling at some passing thought, she was addressed by a poorly-dressed, middle-aged workman, with ’You may well smile, my lass; many a one would smile to have such a bonny face.’  This man looked so careworn that Margaret could not help giving him an answering smile, glad to think that her looks, such as they were, should have had the power to call up a pleasant thought.  He seemed to understand her acknowledging glance, and a silent recognition was established between them whenever the chances of the day brought them across each other s paths.  They had never exchanged a word; nothing had been said but that first compliment; yet somehow Margaret looked upon this man with more interest than upon any one else in Milton.  Once or twice, on Sundays, she saw him walking with a girl, evidently his daughter, and, if possible, still more unhealthy than he was himself.

One day Margaret and her father had been as far as the fields that lay around the town; it was early spring, and she had gathered some of the hedge and ditch flowers, dog-violets, lesser celandines, and the like, with an unspoken lament in her heart for the sweet profusion of the South.  Her father had left her to go into Milton upon some business; and on the road home she met her humble friends.  The girl looked wistfully at the flowers, and, acting on a sudden impulse, Margaret offered them to her.  Her pale blue eyes lightened up as she took them, and her father spoke for her.