delightful name on every corner of my
blotting-paper) honoured me with her hand, I brought this power to bear
on her incessantly. Under all kinds of vexatious circumstances I have
been witness of her unassailable good temper. I have seen her wear a new
bonnet in a shower of rain. These clumsy hands of mine have spilled
lobster-salad upon her dress. That little wretch of a brother of hers
has pulled her back hair down. Her sister Sophonisba has abused her.
Still has she been mild as the dove!

"Then, her common sense is astonishing. She says any woman can manage
with three bonnets and half-a-dozen good dresses. I wanted to buy her a
bracelet the other day, price ten guineas. 'No,' she answered; 'here is
one at only six guineas, quite good enough for me in our station of
life;' and the dear creature was content with it.

"As for accomplishments, she may vie with any fine lady in the land.
Last night she played me a piece from Mendelssohn, and her little hands
danced like lightning about the keys. It was rather long, to be sure;
but I could not help stealing from behind her and kissing the dear
fingers when it was over.

"She has written some exquisite verses, much in the style of Byron--a
poet not easily imitated, you will remember. She has read every line of
Thackeray; and during one of our morning walks, she proved to me, who am
not easily moved from my point, that Carlyle has only one idea. Let me
recommend you to peruse this writer's 'French Revolution' again, and you
will be satisfied that my Carrie is right.

"I trouble you, my dear fellow, with all these details, that you may not
run away with the notion that Flowerdew is blindly in love. My faculties
were never more completely about me than they are at this moment. I am
at a loss to imagine why a man should throw his head away when he yields
his heart. I can look dispassionately at my wife, and if she had a
fault, I am confident that I should be the first to see it. But, _que
voulez-vous?_ she has not yet given me the opportunity.

"Marriage is a lottery. In a lottery, somebody must draw the prize; if I
have drawn it, am I to be ashamed of my luck? No; let me manfully
confess my good fortune, and thank my star.

"I have snatched the time to write you these hurried lines, while the
worshipped subject of them has been trying on some new--but I forgot; I
am writing to a bachelor. I have still a few minutes; let me make use of
them.

"My dear Mac, when I retu