h key, interrupted by occasional snorts, and
terminating with a slur which covered the whole descending octave. It
was also very loud and very long.

It had the effect of bringing Mrs. Frump to the door. She thrust out her
head, unseen by either the carpenter or Matthew, and looked at the
former with a wondering air.

"It was an odd idea," said Matthew, laughing slightly out of compliment
to the carpenter, though he could not understand what there was to
laugh at.

"And now," continued he, when the carpenter's cachinations had subsided,
"I will explain to you my motive in asking all these questions. I am
engaged to Mrs. Frump, and she is now--"

The carpenter immediately broke into another of his remarkable laughs,
louder and longer than before.

"Well, sir," said Matthew, sarcastically, "when you get through, perhaps
you will be good enough to tell me what you are laughing about?"

"The idee--ha! ha!--of your--ha! ha!--marrying Mrs.--ha! ha! ha!" and
the remainder of the sentence was lost in that monstrous laugh.

Matthew, irritated by this most aggravating species of ridicule, took
the carpenter's measure for a kick--but judiciously refrained from
fitting him with one.

The second of the carpenter's laughs had made the widow (still
stealthily looking out of the door) turn pale. The third had inspired
her with a painful curiosity, which she had determined to gratify, at
any risk. Before the last laugh, she had, therefore, crept up,
unobserved, near where Matthew and the carpenter were standing, with
their backs toward her. Coming around suddenly in front of them, she saw
the carpenter's mouth wide open, still in the act of laughing, and
observed that one of his front teeth was out. The widow screamed, and
fell--into Matthew's arms, nearly flooring him.

"Hold on to her," said the carpenter. "She will come to in a minute."

"Who, sir--who on earth _are_ you?" shouted Matthew, struggling under
the burdensome widow and a sense of mental bewilderment.

"I am Amos Frump," he replied, in a voice which had suddenly risen five
notes.

"The widow's husband! The dead come to life!" exclaimed Matthew,
starting back, and nearly dropping the inanimate form.

Astounded as he was, he did not forget the marital rights of the man
before him; and he said, with a trembling voice, politely, "I beg your
pardon; but, as you are this lady's husband, perhaps you had better
hold her."

"She appears to be doing very well where