says, "I'll tell it: why not? I love to tell it, for,
taken altogether, it is the best story I ever heard of.--Kiss me,
dear."

Arthur having done as he was bidden, Mrs. Sterling begins at once, and
all you and I have to do is to listen:

"When I was young and giddy--ever and ever so long ago, of course:
indeed I was quite a girl then, only eighteen--I was, as you may
imagine, quite a pet with my father--don't laugh, Arthur: you know I
was--and quite a belle too, I can assure you, with lots of young men
flinging themselves at my feet and swearing all kinds of oaths about
fidelity and everlasting affection, and all the other things that young
and enthusiastic--"

"And inexperienced," put in Arthur.

"Don't interrupt me, sir. Where was I? Oh yes!--that young and
enthusiastic and inexperienced people are accustomed to swear. And my
father, who was very stern and had old-fashioned notions--and has now,
for that matter, dear old papa!--said that, whatever befell, he would
not on any account give the least encouragement or the slightest
permission to any lover till I was past twenty years old. Not that I
cared, only it was such fun to hear the men talk, and me looking
unutterable things and saying softly, 'You must never say anything to me
on this subject again till you have papa's consent: he would be very
angry if he knew what you've said already'! You see, I knew papa's
will--it is unchangeable as granite: at least I thought it was--and I
felt perfectly safe.

"This was, you know--no, you don't know--but it was the year I came out
in society. And I used to go to receptions and all sorts of things with
papa, and receive his company, and sit at the head of the table, and
keep house, just as my mother would have done if she'd been living. I
hardly remember mamma: I was not four years old when she died. And
society and people's admiration seemed so glorious! I declared I'd never
marry, but go on to the end of my days saying 'No' to any man that asked
me, and enjoying such a lot of pity for the poor fellows. I deliberately
hardened my heart, as many a girl does at that age, and fairly
pitied--yes, actually pitied--the girls that were so weak as to fall in
love and get married. I think papa used to encourage me in the feeling,
for he didn't like to think of losing me out of the house, and he a
judge and a Congressman, and having ever so much company, and nobody but
dear old-fashioned Aunt Jane to help him receive them if