e of nurse is below
my position. It is below the position of no one in the land. I may not
be very competent to fill the office, but I am quite willing to try."

"My dear madam," exclaimed the delighted Mr Blurt, "your goodness is--
but I expected as much. I knew you would. Of course," he said,
interrupting himself, "all the menial work will be done by Mrs
Murridge. You will be only required to fill, as it were, the part of a
daughter--or--or a sister--to my poor Fred. As to salary: it will be
small, very small, I fear; but there are a couple of nice rooms in the
house, which will be entirely at your--"

"I quite understand," interrupted Miss Gentle, with a smile. "We won't
talk of these details, please, until you have had a trial of me, and see
whether I am worthy of a salary at all!"

"Miss Gentle," returned Mr Blurt, with sudden gravity, "your extreme
kindness emboldens me to put before you another matter of business,
which I trust you will take into consideration in a purely business
light.--I am getting old, madam."

Miss Gentle acknowledged the truth with a slight bow.

"And you are--excuse me--not young, Miss Gentle."

The lady acknowledged this truth with a slighter bow.

"You would not object to regard me in the light of a brother, would
you?"

Mr Blurt took one of her hands in his, and looked at her earnestly.

Miss Gentle looked at Mr Blurt quite as earnestly, and replied that she
had no objection whatever to that.

"Still further, Miss Gentle: if I were to presume to ask you to regard
me in the light of a husband, would you object to that?"

Miss Gentle looked down and said nothing, from which Mr Blurt concluded
that she did _not_ object. She withdrew her hand suddenly, however, and
blushed. There was a slight noise at the door. It was Jiggs, who, with
an idiotical stare, asked if it was not time to put up the shutters!

The plan thus vexatiously interrupted was, however, ultimately carried
into effect. Miss Gentle, regardless of poverty, the absence of
prospects, and the certainty of domestic anxiety, agreed to wed Mr
Enoch Blurt and nurse his brother. In consideration of the paucity of
funds, and the pressing nature of the case, she also agreed to dispense
with a regular honeymoon, and to content herself with, as it were, a
honey-star at home.

Of course, the event knocked poor Phil's little plans on the head for
the time being, though it did not prevent his resolving to do his u