he had done, wiped his eyes with a snuffy
handkerchief, and cried till he laughed again. As, somehow, I could not
conceal from myself a suspicion as to the sincerity of my friend's mirth,
I merely consoled myself with the French adage, that "he laughs best who
laughs last;" and went on:--

"It will not be deemed surprising, sir, that a man should come to the
discovery I have just mentioned much more rapidly by having enjoyed the
pleasure of intimacy with your family; not only by the example of perfect
domestic happiness presented to him, but by the prospect held out that
a heritage of the fair gifts which adorn and grace a married life may
reasonably be looked for among the daughters of those themselves the
realization of conjugal felicity."

Here was a canter, with a vengeance; and as I felt blown, I slackened my
pace, coughed, and resumed:--

"Mary Blake, sir, is, then, the object of my present communication; she
it is who has made an existence that seemed fair and pleasurable before,
appear blank and unprofitable without her. I have, therefore, to come at
once to the point, visited you this morning, formally to ask her hand in
marriage; her fortune, I may observe at once, is perfectly immaterial, a
matter of no consequence [so Mr. Blake thought also]; a competence fully
equal to every reasonable notion of expenditure--"

"There, there; don't, don't!" said Mr. Blake, wiping his eyes, with a sob
like a hiccough,--"don't speak of money! I know what you would say, a
handsome settlement,--a well-secured jointure, and all that. Yes, yes, I
feel it all."

"Why, yes, sir, I believe I may add that everything in this respect will
answer your expectations."

"Of course; to be sure. My poor dear Baby! How to do without her, that's
the rub! You don't know, O'Malley, what that girl is to me--you can't know
it; you'll feel it one day though--that you will!"

"The devil I shall!" said I to myself. "The great point is, after all, to
learn the young lady's disposition in the matter--"

"Ah, Charley, none of this with me, you sly dog! You think I don't know
you. Why, I've been watching,--that is, I have seen--no, I mean I've
heard--They--they,--people will talk, you know."

"Very true, sir. But, as I was going to remark--"

Just at this moment the door opened, and Miss Baby herself, looking most
annoyingly handsome, put in her head.

"Papa, we're waiting breakfast. Ah, Charley, how d'ye do?"

"Come in, Baby," said Mr. Bl