is deadly lethargy at last "Is that you, my dear; or are you your late
mother?"

"I am your ridiculously unhappy ward," answered the Flowerpot,
tremulously. "Oh, poor, dear, absurd EDDY!"

"And you have come here all alone?"

"Yes; and to escape being married to EDDY'S perfectly hateful uncle, who
has the same as ordered me to become his utterly disgusted bride. Oh,
why is it, why is it, that I must be thus persecuted by young men
without property! Why is it that perfectly horrid madmen on salaries are
allowed to claim me as their own!"

"My dear," cried the old lawyer, leading her to a chair, and striving to
speak soothingly, "if Mr. BUMSTEAD desires to marry you he must indeed
be insane. Such a man ought really to be confined," he continued, pacing
thoughtfully up and down the room. "This must have been the idea that
was already turning his brain when--bless my soul!--he actually
intimated, first, that I, and then, that Mr. SIMPSON, had killed his
nephew!"

"He thinks, now, that I, or MAGNOLIA PENDRAGON, may have done it,--the
hateful creature!" said FLORA, passionately.

"I see, I see," assented Mr. DIBBLE, nodding. "When he has you in his
head, my dear, he himself must clearly be out of it. You shall stay here
and take tea with me, and then I will take you to FRENCH'S Hotel for
your accommodation during the night."

It was a sight to see him tenderly help her off with her bonnet; and
suggestive to hear him say, that if a man could only take off his brains
as easily as a woman hers, what a relief it would be to him
occasionally. It was curious to see him peep into her bottle-filled
satchel, with an old man's freedom; and to hear him audibly wonder
thereat, whether, after all, men were any more addicted than women to
the social glass when they wanted to put a better face on affairs. And,
after the waiter bringing him toast and tea from a neighboring
restaurant had brought an additional slice and cup for the guest, it was
pleasant to behold him smiling across the office-table at that guest,
and encouraging her to eat as much as she would if a member of his sex
were not looking.

"It must be absurdly ridiculous to stay here all alone, as you do, sir,"
observed FLORA.

"But I am not always alone," answered Mr. DIBBLE. "My clerk, Mr.
BLADAMS, now taking a vacation in the country, is generally here though,
to be sure, I may lose him before long. He's turned literary."

"How perfectly frightful!" said Miss POTT