was not portended."

"I felt sober, aunt," Laura said, after a few moments--her face
again becoming serious.

"So I supposed, from your looks."

"And I feel sober still."

"Why?"

"I am really discouraged, aunt."

"About what?"

The maiden's cheek deepened its hue, but she did not reply.

"You and Harry have not fallen out, like a pair of foolish lovers, I
hope."

"Oh, no!" was the quick and emphatic answer.

"Then what has troubled the quiet waters of your spirit? About what
are you discouraged?"

"I will tell you," the maiden replied. "It was only about a week
after my engagement with Harry that I called upon Alice Stacy, and
found her quite unhappy. She had not been married over a few months.
I asked what troubled her, and she said, 'I feel as miserable as I
can be.' 'But what makes you miserable, Alice?' I inquired. 'Because
William and I have quarrelled--that's the reason,' she said, with
some levity, tossing her head and compressing her lips, with a kind
of defiance. I was shocked--so much so, that I could not speak. 'The
fact is,' she resumed, before I could reply, 'all men are arbitrary
and unreasonable. They think women inferior to them, and their wives
as a higher order of slaves. But I am not one to be put under any
man's feet. William has tried that trick with me, and failed. Of
course, to be foiled by a woman is no very pleasant thing for one of
your lords of creation. A tempest in a teapot was the consequence.
But I did not yield the point in dispute; and, what is more, have no
idea of doing so. He will have to find out, sooner or later, that I
am his equal in every way; and the quicker he can be made conscious
of this, the better for us both. Don't you think so?' I made no
answer. I was too much surprised and shocked. 'All men,' she
continued, 'have to be taught this. There never was a husband who
did not, at first, attempt to lord it over his wife. And there never
was a woman, whose condition as a wife was at all above that of a
passive slave, who did not find it necessary to oppose herself at
first, with unflinching perseverance.'

"To all this, and a great deal more, I could say nothing. It choked
me up. Since then, I have met her frequently, at home and elsewhere,
but she has never looked happy. Several times she has said to me, in
company, when I have taken a seat beside her, and remarked that she
seemed dull, 'Yes, I am dull; but Mr. Stacy, there, you see, enjoys
himself. Men alwa