. Where I opened that unrivalled book, I can't say. Where
the lines of print at last left off running into each other, I know,
however, perfectly well. It was at page three hundred and eighteen--a
domestic bit concerning Robinson Crusoe's marriage, as follows:

"With those Thoughts, I considered my new Engagement, that I had a Wife
"--(Observe! so had Mr. Franklin!)--"one Child born"--(Observe again!
that might yet be Mr. Franklin's case, too!)--"and my Wife then"--What
Robinson Crusoe's wife did, or did not do, "then," I felt no desire to
discover. I scored the bit about the Child with my pencil, and put a
morsel of paper for a mark to keep the place; "Lie you there," I said,
"till the marriage of Mr. Franklin and Miss Rachel is some months
older--and then we'll see!"

The months passed (more than I had bargained for), and no occasion
presented itself for disturbing that mark in the book. It was not till
this present month of November, eighteen hundred and fifty, that Mr.
Franklin came into my room, in high good spirits, and said, "Betteredge!
I have got some news for you! Something is going to happen in the house,
before we are many months older."

"Does it concern the family, sir?" I asked.

"It decidedly concerns the family," says Mr. Franklin. "Has your good
lady anything to do with it, if you please, sir?"

"She has a great deal to do with it," says Mr. Franklin, beginning to
look a little surprised.

"You needn't say a word more, sir," I answered. "God bless you both! I'm
heartily glad to hear it."

Mr. Franklin stared like a person thunderstruck. "May I venture to
inquire where you got your information?" he asked. "I only got mine
(imparted in the strictest secrecy) five minutes since."

Here was an opportunity of producing ROBINSON CRUSOE! Here was a chance
of reading that domestic bit about the child which I had marked on the
day of Mr. Franklin's marriage! I read those miraculous words with an
emphasis which did them justice, and then I looked him severely in the
face. "NOW, sir, do you believe in ROBINSON CRUSOE?" I asked, with a
solemnity, suitable to the occasion.

"Betteredge!" says Mr. Franklin, with equal solemnity, "I'm convinced at
last." He shook hands with me--and I felt that I had converted him.

With the relation of this extraordinary circumstance, my reappearance
in these pages comes to an end. Let nobody laugh at the unique anecdote
here related. You are welcome to be as merry as you