but their truth was so evident,
and the manner in which they were spoken so clear and calm, that they
were followed by a roar of laughter that for a little time upset the
mighty humorist, though, in the extempore song in which he rallied, he
did not forget that

'He had just received a wallop
From the would-be Quaker Trollope.'

"We enjoyed most thoroughly the intercourse commenced thus early in our
married life with the spirits of our time; and I remember entering into
grave debate with L. E. L. whether it would be possible for _us_ to give
a party that might be, as it were, the shadow of hers. A fancy-ball was
out of the question. We proposed a _conversazione_, with first-rate
music; but in that Miss Landon could not sympathize. 'It was all very
well,' she said; 'I had a talent for listening; she had not; and if I
must have music, let there be a room where the talkers could congregate,
and neither disturb others nor be themselves disturbed.' The only thing
she disliked in dancing was the trial of keeping time; and to do this,
she was obliged to count.

"The _conversazione_ was determined on, and the invitations issued; and
then my husband and I began to count the cost. Of course, if done, it
must be well done. The method was not clear; it was very cloudy; and
there was only one way to make it clear. We were but 'children of a
larger growth,' and we had a 'money-box,'--not one of those pretty cedar
inventions, with a lock and key and a slit in the cover, that we now use
at bazaars, but a big, shapeless, roundabout thing of earthen-ware, with
a slit in the middle. We had intended its contents should gratify
another fancy, but now it would be the very thing to sacrifice; so we
locked ourselves into the drawing-room, placed the box on the
hearth-rug, and in a moment the brown roundabout was smashed,--and there
was quite a heap of silver, and a little brightening of gold! _We_ had
never put in any gold. We were astonished, and counted our treasure with
great delight. My husband accused me of conveying the gold by some
cunning art into the box; and _I_ was indignant that he should have done
so without my knowledge. A quarrel was imminent, when we thought perhaps
it was the hand of the dear mother that had dropped in the gold. Yes,
that was her _ruse_; and we would have it that the party cost us
_nothing_, because the contents of the money-box never had been counted
on: it was a treasure-trove,--nothing more. We