own for himself, and that his daughter learns, as she will,--though
certainly not from Martha,--what is due to _me,_ it will be comfortable
and convenient. We'll ask the Princess, too, to spend a week with us;
for who knows, in the present state of politics, to what corner of
Germany we may yet be reduced to fly!"

"How will you m-m-manage with Haggerstone and the rest, when they
arrive, sister?"

"Easily enough. I 'll show them that it's for their advantage that we
are here. It is true that we agreed to take a house together; but every
plan is modified by the events of the campaign. Petrolaffsky will be
content if Mr. Dalton plays piquet; the Colonel will like his claret and
Burgundy; and Foglass will be pleased with the retirement that permits
him to prosecute his attentions to Martha."

Poor Martha blushed crimson at the tone rather, even than the words of
the speech; for, when nothing else offered, it was the practice of Mrs.
Ricketts to insinuate coquetry as among her sister's defects.

"You needn't look so much confused, my dear," resumed the torturer; "I
'm certain it's not the first affair of the kind you've known."

"Oh, sister!" cried Martha, in a voice of almost entreaty.

"Not that I think there would be anything unsuitable in the match; he is
probably fifty-eight or nine,--sixty at most,----and, excepting deafness
and the prosy tendency natural to his time of life, pretty much like
everybody else."

"You know, sister, that _he_ never thought of _me_, nor _I _of _him_."

"I know that I am not in the confidence of either party," said Mrs.
Ricketts, bridling; "and I also know I am sincerely happy that my head
is not crammed with such fiddle-faddle. Before the great event comes
off, however, you will have time to attend to something else, and
therefore I beg you will keep in mind what I am about to say to you.
We are here, Martha," resumed she, with all the solemnity of a
judicial charge,--"we are here by no claims of relationship or previous
friendship. No secret ties of congenial tastes bind us up together. No
common attachment to some other dear creature forms a link between us.
We are here as much by chance as one can venture to call anything in
this unhappy world. Let us, then, show Fortune that we are not unworthy
of her goodness, by neglecting nothing which may strengthen our position
and secure our permanence. In a word, Martha, throw over all your
selfishness'----forget the miserable egotism th