ich ones is unerring. And furthermore,
Mr. Chiffield is a member of a firm twenty years old, who are marked 'A
No. 1' on the books of a mercantile agency, that makes it a business to
pry into other people's affairs. I paid ten dollars for the information,
only a month ago. He must be rich! He must be rich!" Mr. Whedell
repeated it twice, as if the repetition put the question of Chiffield's
opulence beyond a doubt. "Ha! there goes that dreadful bell again!"

"What you say may be true, but I don't believe a word of it, till I have
the proofs," replied the daughter, who seemed to delight in taking a
gloomy view of her case. "Why--will you believe it?--I can't get him
even to talk about engaging a house in New York. He always dodges the
subject, somehow. Upon my word, I think he expects to quarter on you for
the balance of his life. That would be rich!"

Mr. Whedell raised his eyebrows, and emitted a doleful whistle.
Reflecting, he said:

"You may misjudge him. Perhaps he doesn't like to disturb Love's young
dream, by looking into the future. That's all--I'm sure of it."

"Humbug!" ejaculated Mrs. Chiffield.

"Poor thing!" said her father, tenderly. "There--cheer up. Depend upon
it, that you have got a rich husband, who will take all our troubles off
our shoulders. Stay here, and I will go up stairs and sound him."

Mr. Whedell proceeded to the apartment where his son-in-law was shut up,
and found that individual in a deep fit of meditation.

"Thinking--and so soon after marriage?" said Mr. Whedell, with a
charming smile.

"Oh, yes; and I was thinking how much happier is a married man than a
bachelor."

"You will always think so, I am sure, with my dear Clemmy as your wife.
My dear Clemmy! How naturally that phrase comes to my lips. And you are
about to take her away. It's a foolish thought, but I hardly know how I
shall live without her." Mr. Whedell paused, for effect, and
contemplated the vermicular work in the carpet.

"A happy thought strikes me," said Chiffield. "You have a house here,
already furnished. Let us occupy it free of rent, and I will pay the
housekeeping bills of the establishment. That will be mutually
advantageous, and will especially suit your daughter, who, of course,
has a child's attachment for home. What do you say to the proposition,
respected father-in-law?"

Mr. Whedell did not catch at it with the alacrity that was expected of
him. "A capital plan," said he, at length; "but, unfortu