f a heavy hand
upon her shoulder, and a gentleman in a very gruff, but by no means an
ill-natured or morose voice, thus addressed her.

"Did you ever see such a d----d ugly old fellow in your life before?"

"Never," returned Flora, very innocently. Then, looking up in his face,
she cried out with a sudden start, and without the least mental
reservation, "It is the picture of yourself!"

"Yes, it is my picture. An excellent likeness--half bulldog, half
terrier. Judging from that ugly, crabbed old dog over the mantelpiece,
what sort of a fellow ought I to be?"

He said this with a malicious twinkle in his clear, grey eyes, which
glanced like sparks of fire from under his thick bushy eyebrows.

"Better than you look," said Flora, laughing. "But your question is not
a fair one, Mr. W.; I was taken by surprise, and you must not press me
too hard."

"A clear admission, young lady, that you would rather avoid telling the
truth."

"It is the portrait of a plain man."

"Pshaw! You did not qualify it as such in your own mind. Plain--is only
one degree worse than good-looking. You thought it--"

"Ugly--if you insist upon it."

"Nothing worse?"

"Eccentric--pugnacious--satirical."

"God's truth! But that was not all?"

"Good heavens! what am I to say?"

"Don't swear; 'tis not fashionable for ladies. I do it myself; but 'tis
a bad habit. Now shall I tell you what you _did think_ of the picture?"

"I would rather have your opinion than mine."

"To relieve you from the horns of the dilemma? Well then; you thought it
the ugliest, most repulsive, and withal the oddest phiz you ever saw;
and you wondered how any one with such a hideous, morose countenance,
could ever sit for the picture?"

"Indeed I did."

"Good!" cried her tormentor, clapping his hands. "You and I must be
friends. You wonder how I came to guess your thoughts; I know them by my
own. Had any one asked my opinion of the picture of another man as ugly
as that, I should have spoken out plainly enough. Fortunately the
qualities of the mind do not depend upon the beauty of the face; though
personal beauty is greatly increased by the noble qualities of the mind;
and I know my inner man to be as vastly superior to its outer case, as
the moon is to the cloud she pierces with her rays. To mind, I am
indebted for the greatest happiness I enjoy,--the confidence and
affection of my wife and children.

"Mrs. W. was reckoned pretty in her youth; I think her so