rses run 'long the streets, are they kicking up cats?'"

All the man said was, "Umph," and the little wife's peal of merry
laughter was checked, and the ha ha's grew fainter and spread farther
and farther apart, until they died away altogether, and I felt like
charging upon that burly, surly demon, and butting him out of the
window.

"How would you serve such a man, if you were his wife?" asked Mrs.
Purblind.

"_Roasted!_"

VIII

Mr. Gregory's attentions had become an accepted fact in my life. They
were dignified and steadfast, and I received them with a certain calm
pleasure. They had not, as yet, reached the point of declaration, but it
was clear to me, and to everyone else, who knew anything about the
matter, that they were tending thither, and my own thought had reached
the point of acceptance. I had the greatest respect for him as a man; we
were congenial in our tastes, and personally agreeable to one another.
The position he had to offer me was a most dignified, desirable one, as
he was not only a man of sterling integrity, but also a man of wealth;
there was, in short, everything in favor of the alliance, and I looked
upon it quietly, but with a sense of substantial, and steadfast comfort.

Such an event as a marriage cannot even in prospect, face a thoughtful
woman without making a great change in her life. Mr. Gregory was that
type of man who ought not to be allowed to offer himself in a direction
where there was no intention of acceptance, for his character and age--he
was fifty or more--forbade all thought of lightness or trifling, and gave
one the assurance that any marked attention he might show, was
significant. My acquaintance with him had extended over several years,
and during this period there had been abundant opportunity, on both
sides, for study of character.

In a quiet way, I had been arranging my affairs, preparatory to my
expected change in manner of life. I had, as a matter of course, done
considerable thinking during this time. I had experienced none of the
rapture always associated with a romantic attachment, but I was quietly
happy, and this condition was a far more natural one for me, with my
cool, matter-of-fact temperament--a far more promising one, in respect to
future enjoyment, I felt, than something more ecstatic.

I had seen but little of Mr. Chance for some weeks. He had called
several times, but on each of these occasions, we had pa