Year: 1867

/ IUO 4dJes L Suall De SeLLleQ QOWQ .L1GQ


in a bachelor kind of life, have adopted


bachelor views and habits, and bachelor


ways of looking at things, which I


shouldn't be able to alter or get out of


atany price. A few years ago 1 eouldn' t


have afforded it, to put the matter plain
! ly, and so it was out of the question:


But always looked forward to getting


married when I could afford it, and so


now, when I can afford, I'm going to


carry out the notion. You're very kind;


I think shall be happy-in fact, I've


no doubt abOutit-as happy as a fellow


has any right to expect to be- One


ought not to expect too much, of course.


But I'm fond in my way, of this GeOr-


gina Warren; and I think that she, in


her way, is fond ofme. She is not too


young, nor too old; not too good-look-


ing, nor too plain. She's sensible


enough, and accomplished enough; and


I don't see why she shouldn't make me


a very good kind of wife; and similarly,


I don't see why I shouldn't make her a


very good kind of husband. I know
III do all 1 can to make her happy and


comfortable, and I've no doubt she do


the same on her side. What more is


there to be said ? Perhaps I'm not very


fond Of old Warren, the father, and per-


haps also old Warren, the father, ism t


very fond of me. But still I don't see


that that need matter very much. 1


dare say we shall understand each other


by and by; meantime we must rub on


as well as We can and 1 must try and


make the best ofthe gentleman's humors,


and run counter to him more than I can


avoid We needn't be meeting so very


often, you know. And it seems to me


that the old fellow would beno fonder of
any body else who might want to marry
his daughter than he is of me. And if
Georgina likes me (and she says she
dOes) and if I like Georgina (and I
know I do), that seems to me the chief
part of the business. 1 don't think I
need trouble myself much about the old
mans views on the subject. You see
it's oar afair-Georgina's and mine
and not his; though it's hard to make
him see it in that light. But dare say
it will all come right in the end. That's
what I tell Georgina when she takes up
with rather gloomy views about her
fathers temper. She's very good sense
and l think she looks at the matter very
much as do-only of course she can't
help feeling that he isher father where
as, thank goodness, he is not mine. I'm
much obliged to you all for your good
wishes, say again aE-


It will be seen that Ned Stone was not
a lover to ''sigh like furnace" As for
"writing a woeful ballad to his mistress
eyebrow" 1 don't fancy he could have
accomplished such feat, even if his life
had depended on his doing so. His
pulse beat ever steadily and punctually.
The Thermometer of his love stood at
temperate, with no tendency toward
rise. Let Cupid do all he could, it did
not seem that he was able to work very
vital changes in these respects. Stone,
it was evident, persisted in contempla-
ting love and marriage from the prosaic
and practical point of view. Notions of
poetry and sentiment on those or any
other subject we're not possible to him.
His constitutional serenity refused to be
disturbed at all by the quotidian of love.
There was nothing about him drmonstra-
ting a careless desolatiOn. The "marks
of love" as they are ordinarily under
stood, were not discernable upon him.
He was, indeed, great disappointment
to conventional ideas in relation to the
lover. ......


Many, perhaps, would be inclined to
think that he was not to be regarded as
a lover at all-that he was simply man
going to be married-whioh character
does not necessarily involve the former
more attractive and shoWy role. Ger
tainly, he old not attitudinise, or speech
ify, or behave in the eccentric way which |
is popularity expected of lover.


He affected no particular raptures as
to the proposed change in his life, though
he looked forward to it as sort of calm
He never said word as to
the agitated state of his breast, or the ex-
of his feelings. He did not re-
gard Miss Warren as an angel or god
dess; probably he would have been the
first to contradict any allegation that
might have been made to the effect that
she was anything of the kind. Passion
did not perplez or deeompose his vision.
Miss Warren seemed to him what she
seemed to everybody else--a nice look
ing, sensible English giIl If he was to
be considered lover at all, why, then,
it was a lover with large infusion of
the man of business. At the same time,
it should be noted that as man of busi-
ness, Ned Stone was a strictly honora-
bly, and thOrOugh-gOing gentleman.


Stones love affair might not be very
to looker-on; if it could be
called a romance at all, it was unques-
tionably dull one. Yet there was some
thing respectable about it, too. His af-
feOtion was not all for display, but Who'll
" for use, a solid and durable looking
article, and in that light commanding at
tentiOn. 1t was nOta wine that sparkled
and effervesced, bubbling over the glass
brim in rose-tinted foam yet it might,
for all that, be of sound, still and po-
tent vintage. Possibly, too, it would be
found to keep better than its more dash
ing sumptuous rival /


"Oh, haven't you heard?" said he,
quietly. "But of course you couldn't
have heard. The affairs off our en-
garement has come to an end"


"You don't mean that?"


eyes, the things broken off, as peo-
pie say. It's bad job, and I'm sorry
about it-but it cant be helped"


Had the lady resented his serenity, i