d she won't have
me!'

'You have put the question?' said the doctor.

'Plump,' said the other. 'And she looked at first as if she was going
to laugh. She didn't, though. Then she looked serious, and said she was
sorry for me. She said she saw I was in earnest She knew I was a good
son, and deserved a good wife; but she couldn't have me. Miss, said I,
do you like anybody better? No, she said very heartily.'

'That is one comfort,' said the doctor.

'What comfort,' said the other, 'when she won't have me?'

'She may alter her mind,' said the doctor, 'if she does not prefer any
one else. Besides, she only says she can't.'

'Can't,' said the other, 'is civil for won't. That's all.'

'Does she say why she can't?' said the doctor.

'Yes,' said the other. 'She says she and her sisters won't part with
each other and their young master.'

'Now,' said the doctor, 'you have not told me which of the seven sisters
is the one in question.'

'It's the third,' said the other. 'What they call the second cook.
There's a housekeeper and two cooks, and two housemaids and two waiting
maids. But they only manage for the young master. There are others that
wait on them.

'And what is her name?' said the doctor.

'Dorothy,' said the other; 'her name is Dorothy. Their names follow,
like ABC, only that A comes last. Betsey, Catherine, Dorothy, Eleanor,
Fanny, Grace, Anna. But they told me it was not the alphabet they
were christened from; it was the key of A minor, if you know what that
means.'

'I think I do,' said the doctor, laughing. 'They were christened from
the Greek diatonic scale, and make up two conjunct tetrachords, if you
know what that means.'

'I can't say I do,' said the other, looking bewildered.

'And so,' said the doctor, 'the young gentleman, whose name is Algernon,
is the Proslambanomenos, or key-note, and makes up the octave. His
parents must have designed it as a foretelling that he and his seven
foster-sisters were to live in harmony all their lives. But how did you
become acquainted?'

'Why,' said the other, 'I take a great many things to the house from our
farm, and it's generally she that takes them in.'

'I know the house well,' said the doctor, 'and the master, and the
maids. Perhaps he may marry, and they may follow the example. Live in
hope. Tell me your name.'

'Hedgerow,' said the other; 'Harry Hedgerow. And if you know her, ain't
she a beauty?'

'Why, yes,' said the doctor; 'they are all