Year: 1865

The carelessness with which some men
| choose their wives is wonderful to me-they
seem TO bestow more trouble and pains upon
the choice Of a coat 0neior two instances
which have lately come to sny notice willae-
count for the charge ! have brought against
the lords of creation but only some of them
for others, finding none gobd enough, end by
remaining old bachelors; and it is best they
should, for men of that sort would have
worried angels had they happened to marry
them


Then there is young Mr. Balmayne. lam
! snre ] never thought he would have done 50
well as he has after that imprudent hurried
marriage Of his, and he heir to so much.
But it 5 all right now, and | II tell you how
1t came to pass.


You must know that Mr.. Balmayne had
| not much to do last winter in town, when he
was up with his father, who was i'll Of the
gout; so he used to spend a good deal of his
time looking out Of the dining room window;
and as his father has one o those elegant
houses lnPiccadilly, Of coure he saw a great
many people pass by during ihe day.
One morning it rained veB haId-quite
pelt; and as he was at his lost, he saw a
pretty girl run acrossthe road, from the park
straight to the porch which was over the
front of his fathers house She had no
umbrella so, OF course, DR. Balmayne' S
irst impulse was to lend hr one. He put
on hls hat and coat, just as if he was going
for walk himself, andopmed the door.


She really was very pretty, and very wet
She would not come in to be dried, for she
was in hurry to get home; so, as the offer
ed umbrella was he4vyone, Mr. Balmayne
carried it for her himself She was girl of
good family but very pcor-that evil worse
than SIN IN the eyes Of some people. How
ever, to make long story short, Mr. Bal
mayne married her before the season was
over; and, more than that, he told his father
that such was his intention. This brought
on another fit Of the gout and the old gen
tleman vowed and declared that he never
would see her Matters we're in this fix till
it was time for the shooting season to COM
mence: and as the moOIs were In capital or
der, and large party coming to the old
gentleman highland box, Mr.. Balmayne
must come with him, and leave his beautiful
young wife behind. This grieyed him sad
ly; but at last a bright ilea occurred to him,
which he carried out al we shall see, for
this is true story.


At the Euston Square railway station,
when Mr. Balmayne arrived with hisfather,
there was such a rush forseats that they had
some difficulty in findingone, and as to a
carriage to themselves that was out OF the
question; but they seeurel a compartment
which, as we all know, cSntains only four.
One lady was alread y in this one but, with
the old gentleman.s innate politeness, he
would not hear OF her moving, though, as
his gouty foot was obliged to be placed on
the opposite seat, there was only just room
for them.


The lady sat by the old gentleman, and
the son opposite to her The lady was very
pretty and seemed SO sorry and sympathiz-
ing whenever a twinge Of the gout forced a
| strong expression from the old gentleman,
that at last he began to take some notice of
her and to talk to her The young man, abb
sorbed in his newspaper, left them entirely
to themselves, and before they had reached


ork they were quite good friends 1t so
happened that the young lady, too, was go-
ing to spend the night at York AS she
was quite alone, the old gentleman told her
she had better come TO the same hotel as
they did, and his servant should look after
her baggage Evidently, young Mr.. Bal
mayne did not intend to take the smallest
notice of her, and seeing his sons want OF
proper politeness perhaps made the good old
gentleman all the more attentive


The next morning they again set out on
their northern journey, and altogether, as
before, for the lady seemed quite to belong
to them now Having ascertained that she
was going down to place within few miles
of his own shooting box, the old gentleman
promised he would see her safe to the end
of her journey, which was rathera long one,
She travelled slowly, being in delicate health,
and, owing to bis gout, the old gentleman
did the same; so, as it turned out, they re-
manned together the whole distance.


When they got to the last station, before
leaving the railway for country roads, the
gentlemen got out, the father desiring the
lady to remain in the waiting room till he
had found her a carriage and her luggage
put on to it. She obeyed with very sweet
smile, but looked uncommonly nervous.
Mr.. Balmayne also looked nervous, which
was odd. He followed his father, who was