letter.).

"The letter is--ahem--gone," says Laura. "What do you want from
Brussels, Pen?"

"I want some Brussels sprouts, my love--they are so fine in their native
country."

"Shall I write to him to send the letter back?" palpitates poor little
Laura; for she thought her husband was offended, by using the ironic
method.

"No, you dear little woman! You need not send for letter the back: and
you need not tell me what was in it: and I will bet you a hundred yards
of lace to a cotton nightcap--and you know whether I, madam, am a man a
bonnet-de-coton--I will let you that I know what you have been writing
about, under pretence of a message about lace, to our Colonel."

"He promised to send it me. He really did. Lady Rockminster gave me
twenty pounds----" gasps Laura.

"Under pretence of lace, you have been sending over a love-message. You
want to see whether Clive is still of his old mind. You think the coast
is now clear, and that dearest Ethel may like him. You think Mrs. Mason
is growing very old and infirm, and the sight of her dear boy would----"

"Pen! Pen! did you open my letter?" cries Laura; and a laugh which could
afford to be good-humoured (followed by yet another expression of the
lips) ended this colloquy. No; Mr Pendennis did not see the letter--but
he knew the writer;--flattered himself that he knew women in general.

"Where did you get your experience of them, sir?" asks Mrs. Laura.
Question answered in the same manner as the previous demand.

"Well, my dear; and why should not the poor boy be made happy?" Laura
continues, standing very close up to her husband. "It is evident to
me that Ethel is fond of him. I would rather see her married to a good
young man whom she loves, than the mistress of a thousand palaces and
coronets. Suppose--suppose you had married Miss Amory, sir, what a
wretched worldly creature you would have been by this time; whereas
now----"

"Now that I am the humble slave of a good woman there is some chance for
me," cries this model of husbands. "And all good women are match-makers,
as we know very well; and you have had this match in your heart ever
since you saw the two young people together. Now; madam, since I did not
see your letter to the Colonel--though I have guessed part of it--tell
me, what have you said in it? Have you by any chance told the Colonel
that the Farintosh alliance was broken off?"

Laura owned that she had hinted as much.

"You have not ventured to