ht as well die of
donkeys and cock-fights as of nothing at all. It is too hot, open the
window----"

"I fly."

"Oh, heavens! now it is too cold--shut it----"

"I fly," the unhappy Sir Tristram replied.

"Give me my fan----"

"I fly." He flies.

"O lord, I don't want it----"

"I fl--oh!" he sighed and sank into a chair, exhausted.

[Music:

Come away,
Maidens gay,
To the fair
All repair,
Let us go,
Let us show
Willing hearts,
Fair deserts!]

"What is that?" Harriet asked impatiently, as she heard this gay
chorus sung just outside her windows.

"A gay measure: the girls and lads going to the fair," Nancy replied.

"Servant girls and stable boys--bah!"

"Yes--shocking! Who would give them a thought?" Sir Tristram rashly
remarked.

"Why, I don't know! after all, they sound very gay indeed. You haven't
very good taste, Sir Tristram, I declare." And at this the poor old
fop should have seen that she would contradict anything that he said.

"Oh, I remember now! Fair day is the day when all the pretty girls
dress in their best and go to the fair to seek for places, to get
situations. They hire themselves out for a certain length of
time!--till next year, I think. Meantime they dance in their best
dresses and have a very gay day of it."

"That sounds to me rather attractive," Lady Harriet remarked
thoughtfully.

"A foolish fancy, your ladyship," the unfortunate Sir Tristram put in.

"Now I am resolved to go! Get me that bodice I wore at the fancy dress
ball, Nancy. We shall all go--I shall be Martha,--Nancy, and old Rob."

"And--and who may be 'old Rob,' your ladyship?" Sir Tristram asked,
feeling much pained at this frivolity.

"Why, you, to be sure. Come! No mumps! No dumps! We are off!"

"Oh, this is too much."

"What, Sir Tristram, is that the extent of your love for me?"

"No, no--I shall do as you wish--but," the poor old chap sighed
heavily.

"To be sure you will--so now, Nancy, teach old Rob how the yokels
dance, and we'll be off."

"This is too much. I can't dance in that manner."

"Dance--or leave me! Dance--or stay at home, sir!" Harriet cried
sternly.

"O heaven--I'll dance," and so he tried, and the teases put him
through all the absurd paces they knew, till he fell exhausted into a
seat.

"That was almost true to nature," they laughed. "You will do, so come
along. But don't forget your part. Don't let us see any of the airs of
a n