g she would show him over the house if he pleased. He
assented, of course, and under her guidance went through many
apartments; those on the basement story were hurried through rapidly,
but when Mrs. O'Grady got him upstairs, amongst the bed-rooms, she dwelt
on the excellence of every apartment. "This I need not show you, Mr.
Furlong--'t is your own; I hope you slept well last night?" This was the
twentieth time the question had been asked. "Now, here is another, Mr.
Furlong; the window looks out on the lawn: so nice to look out on a
lawn, I think, in the morning, when one gets up!--so refreshing and
wholesome! Oh! you are looking at the stain in the ceiling, but we
couldn't get the roof repaired in time before the winter set in last
year; and Mr. O'Grady thought we might as well have the painters and
slaters together in the summer--and the house does want paint, indeed,
but we all hate the smell of paint. See here, Mr. Furlong," and she
turned up a quilt as she spoke; "just put your hand into that bed; did
you ever feel a finer bed?"

Furlong declared he never did.

"Oh, you don't know how to feel a bed!--put your hand into it--well,
that way;" and Mrs. O'Grady plunged her arm up to the elbow into the
object of her admiration. Furlong poked the bed, and was all
laudation.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

"Cha'ming!" replied Furlong, trying to pick off the bits of down which
clung to his coat.

"Oh, never mind the down--you shall be brushed after; I always show my
beds, Mr. Furlong. Now, here's another;" and so she went on, dragging
poor Furlong up and down the house, and he did not get out of her
clutches till he had poked all the beds in the establishment. As soon as
that ceremony was over, and that his coat had undergone the process of
brushing, he wished to take a stroll, and was going forth, when Mrs.
O'Grady interrupted him, with the assurance that it would not be safe
unless some one of the family became his escort, for the dogs were very
fierce--Mr. O'Grady was _so_ fond of dogs, and _so_ proud of a
particular breed of dogs he had, so remarkable for their courage--he
had better wait till the boys had done their Latin lesson. So Furlong
was marched back to the drawing-room.

There the younger daughter addressed him with a message from her
grandmamma, who wished to have the pleasure of making his acquaintance,
and hoped he would pay her a visit. Furlong, of course, was "quite
delighted," and "too happy," and the y