gh-ho! How can any mortal laugh in
Ratborough! Having nothing better to do, I will go and see who this
very merry personage may be. I will inquire into this gay outbreak, in
a land of stupidity. Hark, again!--how refreshing! I must and will
know what caused such a gush of mirth. Irish humor, perhaps, for Norah
is laughing, after her guttural fashion, too.--

As I popped my head into the kitchen, Little Ugly was just vanishing
at the opposite door. I could not make Norah tell me what Miss Etty
put under her arm, as she looked over her shoulder at me, and darted
out of sight. O my noisy boots! I might as well wear a bell round my
neck.

Stage-wheels are rattling up the road. Now they run upon the grass
before the door. I rush in undignified haste to the window. Shall
I--will I--go and help this long-expected Miss Flora to alight?
No,--for I see forty boxes on the coach-top. A very handsome girl,
really! I will get out a blameless dickey,--if such there be. First
impressions are important. I wish my hair was cut!

I hear my aunt coming to inform me of Flora's arrival. I shall be
hugely surprised! Humph!--will it be worth while to trouble myself
about the lop-eared dickey? Little Ugly will be amused, if I do. She
_can_ laugh, it seems. I had thought there was no fun in her mental
composition. Yet I have imagined a glimmer or so in her eyes, when she
thought I was not looking at them, and the shadow of a dimple in her
cheek now and then.

Instead of Adonizing, I will set my long locks on end, and don my
slipshod slippers. "Yes, Aunt; I hear, good lady! I will presently
arrive, to make my bow to _Little Handsome_."

* * * * *

_Journal, Sept. 23d_. Truly, the presence of Miss Flora Cooper makes
Willow Valley a new place. At least six hours are taken from the
length of the days, though I have given up my afternoon slumber, and
play chess and backgammon instead of drumming on the table or
piano. Now am I relieved from that tedious companion, my own self. I
never liked him very well; I had rather do any thing than have a sober
talk with a serious personage, who always takes me to do for not
making more of him. He scolds me, just as a stay-at-home wife lectures
a gay husband, who never returns to his better half when he finds any
thing to amuse him abroad. Good-by, old fellow; I have found better
company than your rememberings or hopings; to wit, Miss Flora Cooper,
alias Little Handsome, ali