at the water's edge, just too late. To have
wetted my patent leather boots was of course
out of the question; but I did the next best
thing that I could have done, and I sent my
dog in after the fair craft. I restored
it to its proprietress. A bow the next
time we met; a bow and a smile the
time after that; a shake of the hand the
third day, culminated, on the fourth, to an
introduction to her two sisters and to Mr.
Sandiman. I then met them daily, by accident,
in their marine walks; I sent them
cards of admission to the Bachelors' Ball.
O the stratagems put in practice by our
female Sandwithians to procure these! the
heartburnings they cause; the lifelong feuds
which year after year they engender or inflame;
the envy, the malice that are brought
forth by them—it is enough to make the
angels weep!

At last the Sandimans asked me to dinner.
These approaches to intimacy, although carried
forward with exquisite skill, took a considerable
time to accomplish; and yet I had
seen nothing of the commandant upon the
other side. Mrs. Sandiman had not yet
shown herself; her lieutenant, Pegton—a
maiden aunt of the young ladies—had been
their duenna in their rambles; their chaperone
at the ball. Now, said I to myself, I
shall meet the mother; and I said it
triumphantly, for nobody else at Sandwith
had as yet enjoyed that privilege.

I arrived a little too early, and was received
by my Arabella, alone. I had thus
an opportunity of making ample mental notes
of her accomplishments;—manners easy;
dress quiet perfection; no allusions to the
aristocracy; no observations about the weather;
—I began to think her exactly the
sort of person to sit at the head of a table;
I considered how 'Mrs. Harry Loveless'
would read upon a visiting card. Nothing
to be ashamed of as to sisters-in-law: both
entered gracefully; did not call their sister
Bella; did not attempt to make her uncomfortable
through sipte, nor to cut her out
the least in my affections: father-in-law
just as he should be, commonplance—your
clever father-in-laws are always borrowing
your money—but eminently respectable;
head bald and shining; countenance bland;
voice pompous, waistcoat arched: Lieutenant
Pegton, bony, knuckly, with iron-grey moustache,
but looking as if she had money in the
funds. Still no mother-in-law. I thought
of all that Sandwith had been saying about
her: that she was made; that she drank;
that she had an incurable disease, supposed
to have been long extinct among the human
species; that she had a pig's face; that she
had no nose. My suspense became intolerable.
"Shall I not have the pleasure of seeing
Mrs. Sandiman this evening?" I said to the
Lieutenant, as I took her down to dinner.

"I fear not, Mr. Loveless," she replied.
"My sister is at present indisposed."

She was always indisposed, it seemed. It
was the answer people got when they called;
it was the reply that was written to invitations;
and yet none of the six Sandwith
doctors had had a chance at her. But, the
lower orders had been far more fortunate
than the upper: the butcher had seen her,
and affirmed that she was "tolerably
good to look at for an old 'un," and "deuced
sharp about her prime cuts;" the maids of all
work had seen her in the early morning upon
her lonely way to the sea-shore to bathe;
she had been taken to church, thickly veiled,
with the rest of the family, but the frigidest
of bows prevented near approach to the
Sandimen upon the Sabbath days; her own
domestics had been fee'd and pumped in vain
—they only affirmed that she was subject to
tantrums, which appeared to be a common
complaint of mistresses, and failed to satisfy
the curious. After dinner I perceived Mr. S.
was suffering torture in the attempt to keep
me company and himself awake, so I proposed
a nap; and when his breathing began to get
stertorous I stole up-stairs to the young
ladies. No one asleep in the drawing-
room; no huddling over the fire with gowns
drawn up to their knees for comfort, while
they abused their guests for amusement. All
at work, or reading, except Lieutenant Pegton,
who was above-stairs with the invalid.
The whole thing began to wear in my eyes
the appearance of business—of marriage.
Sudden Death was positively charming by
firelight. Would she play? Certainly. Would
she sing? With pleasure. Was she fond of
biography? She was; and of the right
biographies. I was on the point of calling
her Arabella before them all; but changed
it just in time into Arethusa and sea
songs in general. I had determined not
to commit myself till I had seen my future
mother-in-law with my own eyes. I knew
what frightful accidents have happened
through such a rash proceeding; how
Charlie Blake, of the Heavies, for instance,
married a wife in that manner, with the
understanding only that her money came
from the mother's side; and indeed it did
so, for she had earned it by going about the
country in a caravan and exhibiting herself,
being half white and half black, like a
domino. Battle presently left the room for
a thimble, and Murder followed her in
pursuit of a crochet-needle; directly that
Murder was out, and there were no
witnesses, I whispered "Arabella," in my
softest tones. She did not reply in words,
but her fingers, which happened at that moment
to be entangled in mine, returned the
slightest of pressures. " I am going to ask
you a question," I continued, " which, I trust,
you will not take ill." Her little hand
trembled violently, and I think she expected
to be asked for that in marriage, at once;
but such was not my intention. " Will you,
will you, dear Arabella," I went on, " permit