ast and gone--I was always a little too hard on him.
Well, anyhow, he's turned up all of a sudden master of ten thousand
a-year. He has indeed--may this piece of toast choke me if he hasn't!"

Mrs. Tag-rag and her daughter sat in speechless wonder.

"Where did he see Tab, Taggy?" inquired at length Mrs. Tag-rag.

"Oh--I--I--why--you see--I don't exactly think _that_ signifies so
much--he _will_ see her, you know, next Sunday."

"So, then, he's positively coming?" inquired Mrs. Tag-rag, with a
fluttered air.

"Y--e--s--I've no doubt."--(I'll discharge Lutestring to-morrow, thought
Tag-rag, with a sharp inward spasm.)

"But aren't we counting our chickens, Taggy, before they're hatched? If
Titmouse is all of a sudden become such a catch, he'll be snapped up in
a minute, you know, of course"----

"Why, you see, Dolly--we're first in the market, I'm sure of that--his
attorney tells me he's to be kept quite snug and quiet under my care
for months, and see no one"----

"My gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. Tag-rag, holding up both her hands--"if
_that_ don't look like a special interposition of Providence, now"----

"So _I_ thought, Tabby, while Mr. Gammon was telling me!" replied her
husband.

"Ah, Tag, there are many of 'em, if we were only to be on the look-out
for them!" said Mrs. Tag-rag, excitedly.

"I _do_ see it all! It's designed by Providence to get them soon
together! When once Mr. Titmouse gets sight of Tabby, and gets into her
company--eh! Tab, lovey! _you'll_ do the rest, hem!" said Tag-rag,
fondly.

"La, pa! how you _do_ go on!" simpered Miss Tag-rag.

"You must do your part, Tab," said her father--"we'll do ours. He'll
bite, you may depend on it, if you manage well!"

"What sort of a looking young man is he, dear pa?" inquired Miss
Tag-rag, blushing, and her heart fluttering very fast.

"Oh, you _must_ have seen him, sweetest"----

"How should I ever notice any one of the lots of young men at the shop,
pa?--I don't at all know him."

"Well--he's the handsomest, most genteel-looking young fellow I ever
came across; he's long been an ornament to my establishment, for his
good looks and civil and obliging manners--quite a treasure! You should
have seen how he _took_ with the ladies of rank always!"----

"Dear me," interrupted Mrs. Tag-rag, anxiously addressing her daughter,
"I hope, Tabby, that Miss Nix will send home your lilac-colored frock by
next Sunday!"

"If she _don't_, ma, I'll take care s