his dainty rose-bud round. She at
least was all he could wish her to be--unsophisticated as a child,
and pure and good at heart.

After a month's acquaintance it began to be understood that he was
engaged to her. "Ma" wept copious tears, and reckoned her Bella was a
lucky girl to get such an "elegant" husband; and Saidie wished him
happiness in a voice like a corn-crake, and declared that her sister
was "just the sweetest and best girl out of N'York," which she was;
"and born to lead a private life," which she wasn't.

Bella herself had very little to say. She blushed rosily when Jack
made fervent love to her; acquiesced confusedly when he told her she
must give up the music-hall stage, and seemed to take happily to the
idea of a quiet, uneventful life as Mrs. Jack Chetwynd.

They took a small house in Camberwell New Road. Jack put up a brass
plate with his name on it, and M.D. in imposing letters, and invested
in a telephone for the accommodation of night callers; and Bella
began to busy herself about the furnishing.

That was a delightful time. The little bride elect was so excited and
eager, and showed herself wonderfully capable, and with quite a
pretty taste in draping and ornamenting; but there was a terrible
hole in Jack's purse: chairs and tables seemed to cost a mint of
money; and the young man sighed and hoped fervently that it would not
be long before patients appeared, or he would be obliged to say No to
his darling when she turned her appealing eyes upon him and begged
him to give her money for that "duck of a screen," or something else
that was from her point of view the most extraordinary bargain, but
which, Jack reflected, privately, they could very well have done
without.

He was giving up a certainty in settling in Camberwell, for as House
Surgeon at St. Mark's his income was assured; but then as a married
man he could no longer have lived at the hospital, and "one must risk
something" said Jack, hopefully.

They were married in May, just three months from that eventful night
when our hero first saw pretty Bella Blackall, on the boards at the
"Band Box," and Mrs. John Chetwynd was altogether so sweet and
winsome in her simple white gown, that Saidie was right when she
hilariously remarked that Jack might well be forgiven for falling in
love with her "all over again."

The wedding was just as quiet as it could be, for Jack did not care
to invite any of his friends. "Ma" and Saidie were altoget