Year: 1875

bushes may be spared, when l say that
TO accomplish it l took occasion to throw
myself into Mr.. Lees way (of course by
apparent accident), and that within n
week l had won him back to the instruc-
tiOn room and the renewal of our friendly
chats, though at such hours Gate in the
efternoon) that there was no chance Of
his meeting his wife. That l never Ia
bored harder with any pupil than with
that willing but nervous little lady, 10
enable her rapidly TO become not only
proficient at the machine but TO seem so.
Then that l progressed by making an
appointment with Mrs. Lee, on some
excuse as to my convenience, at o'clock
on the afternoon before Christmas
christmas Eve at very early stage of
the anniversary, and meanwhile gained
character for benevolence by telling
my companions in teaching that they
had better 90 home early and thus enjoy
the gay sights and sounds presented by
the streets on that festive season. And
then L crowned the whole by making
another appointment with Mr.. Harry
Lee, for the same place, half an hour
later, having III view the necessity of
bringing him unexpectedly upon his
wife at the very moment when she should
be sewing away at the top of her ability.


Once upon time 1 kept an extraor-
dinaIy bug that / had captured, under n
glass tumbler, for days, to see the change
by which it would become something
else. II effected the change one night
when | could not see it, and l was left
very little wiser than before. And l know
not much more about the meeting be-
tween Harry Lee and his wife, over the
sewing machine, that evening before
Christmas; as (confound it y [ felt myself
obliged to leave them alone together just
at the interesting moment, and they had
made it all up before L thought it proper
to return


However, l had my revenge. Mr.. Lee
q wish to be understood and believed
on this point never fiirted any more
with me, however mildly" never no
more" He went to Europe, but a little
later, and took his wife, leaving his little
son with his notable New England moth
er, who was sure to take good care of
him though she might not permit him
to romp too hilariously. They were kind
enough TO believe that / had been of SER
wee to them; and was the recipient of
certain rings, one OF which Harry Lee
gave me with what / thought was rather
Il conscious look, and the other of which
Oracle Lee gave me with no shamefaced-
ness and hearty kiss.


1 saw them together, and at home
again, in a pretty new home over which,
taught by some mistakes in the past, the
wife was sole mistress, apparently very
happy, the next Christmas; and think
that Mrs. Lee, under some sort of idea
that she owed the recovery of her hus-
band to her sewing machine, looked upon
that useful article as species of good
fairy, and her seat at it as q place of
refuge, and always was to be found sew
ing when things went all crooked in tine
household.


My after acquaintance with them, at
all events, showed that the indolent, use
less, and self-willed wife had become the
busy, useful, and gentle one; and that
the husband, who had begun by mis-
understanding her, had come fully back
to his senses, and grown much wiser as
to the quality of the woman with whom
he had been intrusted. And something
of this, if not all of it, was the result OF
a little Irritation nipped in the bud, and
OF Ny Christmas Revenge.-Aldine.