d hatching now?"

"Dear Hugh?" stammered Fay, timidly, "I know I am very ignorant, and I
ought to know better, and I will look in the dictionary as soon as
I--but I do not know the meaning of the word obsolete."

"Pshaw!" again muttered Sir Hugh; then aloud, "The term, honored
madame, signifies disused, out of date, ancient, antiquated, antique,
neglected, and so on."

"Ah, Hugh, now I know you are laughing at me; but," rather anxiously,
"the 'Match-Maker' can not be all wrong, can it? It is only what you
call obsolete."

"My dear child," answered Hugh, gravely, "you can trust your husband's
judgment, I hope, before even this wonderful book--in this matter I am
sure you can; and in my opinion the prettiest name I could have
selected is this 'Wee Wifie.' It pleases me," continued Hugh, his fine
features working with secret pain. "It is no name of the past, it
touches on no hoped-for future, and it reminds me of my little wife's
claim to forbearance and sympathy from her extreme youth and ignorance
of the world. To others you may be Lady Redmond, but to me you must
ever be my Wee Wifie."

Fay clasped his neck with a little sob.

"Yes, you shall call me that. I know I am only a silly ignorant little
thing, and you are so grand and wise; but you love your foolish little
wife, do you not, Hugh?"

"Yes, of course;" but as Hugh hushed the rosy lips with that silencing
kiss, his conscience felt an uneasy twinge. Did he really love her?
Was such fondness worth the acceptance of any woman, when, with all
his efforts, he could scarcely conceal his weariness of her society,
and already the thought of the life-long tie that bound them together
was becoming intolerable to him? But he shut his ears to the accusing
voice that was ever whispering to him that his fatal error would bring
its punishment. Well, he was responsible, humanly speaking, for the
happiness of this young life; as far as he knew how, he would do his
duty.

"Well, sweetheart," he observed, glancing enviously at Fay's bright
face, now quite forgetful of fatigue--how could she be tired while
Hugh talked to to her!--"what other amusing rules does this marvelous
book contain?"

"I do think it is a marvelous book, though it is somewhat obsolete;"
and here Fay stammered over the formidable word. "I know it said in
one place that married people ought to have no secrets from each
other, and that was why I told you about Frank Lumsden;" and here Fay
blushed very