red Iris.

"A friend of mine," said Mr. Emblem, "now, like nearly all my friends,
beneath the sod, used to say that a good marriage was a happy blending
of the finest Wallsend with the most delicate Silkstone. But he was in
the coal trade. For my own part I have always thought that it is like
the binding of two scarce volumes into one."

"Oh, not second-hand volumes, grandfather," said Iris.

"I don't know. Certainly not new ones. Not volumes under
one-and-twenty, if you please. Mr. Arbuthnot, I am glad; you will know
why very soon. I am very glad that Iris made her choice before her
twenty-first birthday. Whatever may happen now, no one can say that
either of you was influenced by any expectations. You both think
yourself paupers; well, I say nothing, because I know nothing. But,
children, if a great thing happen to you, and that before
four-and-twenty hours have passed, be prepared--be prepared, I say--to
receive it with moderate rejoicing."

"To-morrow?" Iris asked. "Why to-morrow? Why not to-night, if you have
a secret to tell us?"

"Your father enjoined in his last letter to wait till you were
twenty-one. The eve of your birthday, however, is the same thing as
your birthday. We will open the papers to-night. What I have to tell
you, Iris, shall be told in the presence of your lover, whatever it
is--good or bad."

He led the way down-stairs into the back shop. Here he lit the gas,
and began to open his case, slowly and cautiously.

"Eighteen years ago, Iris, my child, I received your father's last
letter, written on his death bed. This I have already told you. He set
down, in that letter, several things which surprised me very much. We
shall come to these things presently. He also laid down certain
instructions for your bringing up, my dear. I was, first of all, to
give you as good an education as I could afford; I was to keep you as
much as possible separated from companions who might not be thought
afterward fit to be the friends of a young lady. You have as good an
education as Lala Roy and I could devise between us. From him you have
learned mathematics, so as to steady your mind and make you exact; and
you have learned the science of heraldry from me, so that you may at
once step into your own place in the polite world, where, no doubt, it
is a familiar and a necessary study. You have also learned music,
because that is an accomplishment which every one should possess. What
more can any girl want for a