roper, no doubt,
towards a man much older than himself, and the father of the girl he yet
hoped one day to make his wife; but the spectators, had he done so, and
could they have known all the facts of the case, would have been much
more likely to forgive him than the miserable hound (now a miserable
secessionist--thank Heaven for his choice!) who bore a military title to
his name, a few years ago, and sat still in one of the theatres of this
city, without daring to lift a hand in opposition, while the
just-married wife by his side was brutally caned by her millionaire
father for daring to marry _him_! High temper may be dangerous, and the
rough hand something to be avoided and reprobated; but there is
something worse in the extreme opposite, and humanity worse sickens at
the sight of an abject poltroon, than at any other worthless fungus that
springs as an excrescence from God's footstool.

All the saints be praised for these little women! They _are_, after all,
the balance-wheels of life, and the whole machinery would run riot and
go to destruction without them. They bring us to ourselves, often, and
so save us _from_ ourselves. When they advise peace and patience, they
are generally right, for at such times violence is seldom politic. Frank
Wallace would probably have carried out his violent first intention, but
for the hand of Emily which dropped upon his arm almost before he had
risen, and the soft voice which spoke in his ear, very hurriedly:

"Don't, Frank, for _my_ sake! Let me go, and sit still. You shall see me
again in a day or two. _I'll_ pay Pa for this!"

Very much consoled by these words, and especially by the last clause,
Frank Wallace resumed his seat, merely indulging in a remark which was
heard by many around him, and which may or may not have been heard by
the person at whom it was aimed:

"Bah! you big brute!"

A little suppressed clapping of hands in the neighborhood, which the
actors probably thought intended for themselves, but which certainly was
not. Meanwhile Emily Owen, dropping her hand by some kind of
unexplainable intuition to the very spot where Frank's was lying, gave
it a quick squeeze, then stumbled gracefully over the legs of the
persons sitting between her and the aisle, and followed her father. As
she passed two or three steps up the aisle, the Judge leading
pompously, and the gate-keeper calculating the chances of being able to
crush him by accidentally letting the iron gate sl