know any better than you do?" asked
Phil incredulously.
"They tell some strange things," said Wilbur.
"What, for instance?"
"An aunt of mine went to a fortune-teller and asked if she would ever be
married, and when? She was told that she would be married before she was
twenty-two, to a tall, light-complexioned man."
"Did it come true?"
"Yes, every word," said Mr. Wilbur solemnly. "She was married three
months before her twenty-second birthday, and her husband was just the
kind of man that was predicted. Wasn't that strange?"
"The fortune-teller might easily have guessed all that. Most girls are
married as young as that."
"But not to tall, light-complexioned men!" said Wilbur triumphantly.
"Is there anything you wish particularly to know?" asked Phil.
"I should like to know if I am going to marry--you know who."
"The daisy?"
"Yes."
Phil was not much in favor of the scheme, but finally agreed to it.
There was a certain "Veiled Lady," who advertised her qualifications in
the Herald, as the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, and therefore
gifted with the power to read the future. Mr. Wilbur made choice of her,
and together they went to call upon her one evening.
They were shown into an anteroom, and in due time Mr. Wilbur was called
into the dread presence. He was somewhat nervous and agitated, but
"braced up," as he afterward expressed it, and went in. He wanted Phil
to go in with him, but the attendant said that madam would not allow it,
and he went forward alone.
Fifteen minutes afterward he re-entered the room with a radiant face.
"Have you heard good news?" asked Phil.
Mr. Wilbur nodded emphatically and whispered, for there were two others
in waiting:
"It's all right. I am to marry her."
"Did the fortune-teller say so?"
"Yes."
"Did she give her name?"
"No, but she described her so that I knew her at once."
"Will it be soon?" asked Phil slyly.
"Not till I am twenty-four," answered Mr. Wilbur soberly. "But perhaps
she may be mistaken about that. Perhaps she thought I was older than I
am."
"Do you doubt her knowledge, then?"
"No; at any rate, I can wait, since she is to be mine at last. Besides,
I am to be rich. When I am thirty years old I am to be worth twenty
thousand dollars."
"I congratulate you, Wilbur," said Phil, smiling. "You are all right, at
least."
"The next gentleman!" said the attendant.
Phil entered the inner room, and looked about hi
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