Litchfield enquirer., 1875-01-07
.,o s,,s,.,,.s From, Harp. rs Weekly [ MARRIAGE BY ADVERTISEMENT

.-....s,- LFrom, Harp rs Weekly .s. ifI4ssa U MARRiA0E BY A0VERTisEaaEaT.
 s''1 wonder" exclaimed Nina Fitzgerald,
 whether these advertisements are real
 or only nonsense?" , a
 esWhat advertisemenss?" asAd good
 looking young gentleman from table
 near the window, where he sat dressing
 trout flies.
 Why. this;' and she read as follows
 ." 'MATRIMoNY.-A gentleman, widower, aged 40
 with nice home, also good business in the City
 would like to correspond with lady of means--Ad
 dress KY z, 222 James Street, City. ,"
 "Oh! A lady with means, is it, he
 wants? Taen it's bona fde enough, war.
 rant" ..-
 dBut surely. George, no woman would
 be such 8 fool as to marry man in this
 way" pursued Miss Fitzgerald, laying the
 paper across her lap, and looking earnest
 ly at her cousin.
 Cant say. Women are fools enough
 for anything. Rise at any fly, he replied, over half-fnished 'black palmer
 ''Not nearly se foolish as you men, with your gambling and steeple-chasing, and breaking your necks, and losing your money. Indeed I don't believe there is a single man in your regiment that is not a fool. and I have seen the whole of them.
 '"Phe Dukes Own Hussars are much obliged ro you, I'm sure, for the compli- ment, my fair cousin; but to return to where we left of. Do you suppose that if Iput an advertisement in the papers for a wife that I shouldn't have a hundred young women answering it?'' r.7 5 ''Not onep cried Nina, with decision. But perhaps if l, ,thatis to say,a woman, advertised, it would be different thing. ''
 Well, Nina, you are pretty enough, no doubt, to go in and win, " said the young lieutenant. of Hussars, looking up from his salk, feathers, and 1inseI at her face. It was a very pretty face of the true Irish pattern. Dark blue eyes, wayy black tresses, uez TetrOusse, clear complexion, and aelaughter-loving dimpled mouth and chin. The face of bright, clever girl of who thought of nothing but the present moment, and the best way of dis tilling pleasure from it with the least trouble in the operation.
 'I have great mlnd to try" she re- torted, saucily. Suppose we have bet about it?"
 ''What would my respected Pater say to that?" said he, with mock gravity. "Just after paying off my debts on the promise that I would never bet again."
 'fOh, gloves, you know. Uncle George would not mind that; besides, betting with lady counts for nothing"
 T. am very glad to hear it, for Jouvin could hardly supply half of all I owe to your sex; but | thought that Mrs. Villiers had put book-making under the ban for you too. Nina. I know she was complain ing of your extravagance only the other lay" -l --T 9a
 Now Mrs. Villiers was a distant con- lection of the Fitzgerald family, and very :ich. She had neither chick nor child of Ter own, and had adopted Nina, a few years before, on the death of that young persons mother. Nina's father had died 'oon after her birth. Mss Fitzgerald ,alled this lady saunt' by courtesy only, md was often sorely exercised by the freaks and fancies for which Mrs. Villiers had gained a considerable notoriety in the good city of Dublin and its neighborho0d 9neA day Mrs. v VfllferS -wus feligfouS. ana ! distributor of tracts, the next she would )e rather the reverse, and frequenter of avery fashionable scene of dissipation within the circuit of the Bills of Mortali- y. Sometimes she would so dress herself IS to pass readily for Sister of Charity or nun, out-of-doors; at another she would appear as gorgeously apparaled as She was the widow of fox-hunting gen. 'leman of good property in County Gal way, who broke his neck and left her a .ortune all in one day of calamity" as ,he called it.
 "Oh, Aunt Mary scolds only periodical y, and not according to my sins; she is sxtravagant enough herself, if it comes to 'hat. to be fairly unable to find fault with me. If you saw her dress-maker's bill, George, it would astonish you. Even your racing and blind hookey-funny name could not surpass it."
 ''What says the French poet?" replied Fitzgerald, carelessly:
 'Avarice, my dear, is cursed from pole to pole; Ind money was made like Q wheel, on purpose, my
 blonde, to roll"
 'I wish you would have done with those iresome fies, ,' cried Nina, after pause. Where are you going to fish?'
 ''1n Wicklow next week, hope, if ,an get leave of absence from the chief"
 ''But you are coming with us to the band this sevening; you know it plays in he square,
 Certainly, my dear, if you wish it."
 Don't my dear me, George; you know how hate it. What beautiful af- sernoon 1t is! And seel The people are beginning to come already; it is your band, believe" -..--.a. = '.
 She rose, and looked out of the draw window on what is very pretty 'ight-Merrion Square, Dublin, on sum- ner's evening, and band day. The haw- ,horn-trees were very green and fresh from recent shower. the grass smoothly shaved, and a pleasant promenade for many fashionable idlers in dresses com prising all the gay colors of the rainbow. when Mrs. Villiers, with Nina and Geerge Fitzgerald, joined the throng. the band of the Dukes Own Hussars was playing joyous music, and the crowd had increased to what was almost a crush. Mrs. Villiers was ID one of irreligious hu- mors this day, and was accordingly dress ed somewhat extravagantly. She was a little "squab" woman of forty-fiye years of age or upward, who sought to make herself look like thirty. and failed signal y Tn the effort. She wore quantity of false ringlets, and her. face was Fouged, put she, did not look young for all that, not even though her vivacity was that of some young thing in her second season, and striving to appear "fast" as bait for the military. When Mrs. V1lliers went abroad to bands, exhibitions, concerts, and the like, it was always with mob of needy admirers in her train. Her court was somewhat incongruous in its details. There were young officers and old officers of the garrison, sheep-faced subalterns, and ogreish majors, also briefIess barris- ters from the Four Courts, and Reyivalist ministers. from nowhere in particular. There were country gentleman, too, from Roscommon and Glare. who considered Mrs. Villiers to be the very height of fashion, and penniless young ladies who desired to be brought out under the lit tie lady's auspices. For Mrs. Villiers had a good house in a fashionable part of the town, and gave good dinners. also balls and parties, to which every one was eager to be invited. It was true that she was eccentric -the uncharitable said mad but what is eccentricity, after all, but gen jus, when combined with wealth and in- fiuence? It used to be an amusement of George and Nina Fitzgerald to r,dicule in secret the persons composing Mrs. Vil-