s not to be
flurried by such an honour: he was still more surprised by the nature of
her communication, and by this first intelligence of an affair that had
been passing under his eye. He listened, however, with his usual
gravity, as her ladyship represented the advantages of the match, the
good qualities of the girl, and the distress which she had lately
suffered; at length his eye began to kindle, and his hand to play with
the head of his cudgel. Lady Lillycraft saw that something in the
narrative had gone wrong, and hastened to mollify his rising ire by
reiterating the soft-hearted Phoebe's merit and fidelity, and her great
unhappiness, when old Ready-Money suddenly interrupted her by
exclaiming, that if Jack did not marry the wench, he'd break every bone
in his body! The match, therefore, is considered a settled thing; Dame
Tibbets and the housekeeper have made friends, and drank tea together;
and Phoebe has again recovered her good looks and good spirits, and is
carolling from morning till night like a lark.

But the most whimsical caprice of Cupid is one that I should be almost
afraid to mention, did I not know that I was writing for readers well
acquainted in the waywardness of this most mischievous deity. The
morning after the wedding, therefore, while Lady Lillycraft was making
preparations for her departure, an audience was requested by her
immaculate handmaid, Mrs. Hannah, who, with much priming of the mouth,
and many maidenly hesitations, requested leave to stay behind, and that
Lady Lillycraft would supply her place with some other servant. Her
ladyship was astonished: "What! Hannah going to quit her, that had lived
with her so long!"

"Why, one could not help it; one must settle in life some time or
other."

The good lady was still lost in amazement; at length the secret was
gasped from the dry lips of the maiden gentlewoman; she had been some
time thinking of changing her condition, and at length had given her
word, last evening, to Mr. Christy, the huntsman.

[Illustration: A Maiden Confession]

How, or when, or where this singular courtship had been carried on, I
have not been able to learn; nor how she has been able, with the vinegar
of her disposition, to soften the stony heart of old Nimrod; so,
however, it is, and it has astonished every one. With all her ladyship's
love of match-making, this last fume of Hymen's torch has been too much
for her. She has endeavoured to reason with Mrs. Hannah,