me to soften all the
hardness of this hardworking world. Maryanne, when shall be our
wedding day?"

For a while the fair beauty was coy, and would give no decisive
answer; but at length under the united pressure of her father and
lover, a day was named. A day was named, and Mr. Brown's consent to
that day was obtained; but this arrangement was not made till he had
undertaken to give up the rooms in which he at present lived, and to
go into lodgings in the neighbourhood.

"George," said she, in a confidential whisper, before the evening was
over, "if you don't manage about the cash now, and have it all your
own way, you must be soft." Under the influence of gratified love, he
promised her that he would manage it.

"Bless you, my children, bless you," said Mr. Brown, as they parted
for the night. "Bless you, and may your loves be lasting, and your
children obedient."

CHAPTER XVI.

SHOWING HOW ROBINSON WALKED UPON ROSES.

"Will it ever be said of me when my history is told that I spent
forty thousand pounds a-year in advertising a single article? Would
that it might be told that I had spent ten times forty thousand." It
was thus that Robinson had once spoken to his friend Poppins, while
some remnant of that five hundred pounds was still in his hands.

"But what good does it do? It don't make anything."

"But it sells them, Poppins."

"Everybody wears a shirt, and no one wears more than one at a time. I
don't see that it does any good."

"It is a magnificent trade in itself. Would that I had a monopoly of
all the walls in London! The very arches of the bridges must be worth
ten thousand a-year. The omnibuses are invaluable; the cabs are a
mine of wealth; and the railway stations throughout England would
give a revenue for an emperor. Poppins, my dear fellow, I fancy that
you have hardly looked into the depths of it."

"Perhaps not," said Poppins. "Some objects to them that they're all
lies. It isn't that I mind. As far as I can see, everything is mostly
lies. The very worst article our people can get for sale, they call
'middlings;' the real middlings are 'very superior,' and so on.
They're all lies; but they don't cost anything, and all the world
knows what they mean. Bad things must be bought and sold, and if
we said our things was bad, nobody would buy them. But I can't
understand throwing away so much money and getting nothing."

Poppins possessed a glimmering of light, but it was only a
glimm