r. Douglass would
not object to having it there."

Mrs. Livingstone knew so, too, but there was too much danger in such
an arrangement, and she replied, "Of course not, if you request it,
but will it be quite proper for you to ask him to be at all that
trouble when Nellie is gone, and there is no one at home to
superintend?"

So after a time Mabel was convinced, thinking, though, how
differently everything was turning out from what she expected. Three
weeks from that night was fixed upon for the bridal, to which but few
were to be invited, for Mrs. Livingstone did not wish to call forth
remark.

"Everything should be done quietly and in order," she said, "and
then, when autumn came, she would give a splendid party in honor of
the bride."

Mr. Douglass, when told of the coming event by Mrs. Livingstone, who
would trust no one else, expressed much surprise, saying he greatly
preferred that the ceremony should take place at his own house.

"Of course," returned the oily-tongued woman, "of course you had, but
even a small wedding party is a vast amount of trouble, and in
Nellie's absence you would be disturbed. Were she here I would not
say a word, but now I insist upon having it my own way, and indeed, I
think my claim upon Mabel is the strongest."

Silenced, but not quite convinced, Mr. Douglass said no more,
thinking, meanwhile, that if he only _could_ afford it, Mabel should
have a wedding worthy of her. But he could not; he was poor, and
hence Mrs. Livingstone's arguments prevailed the more easily.
Fortunately for her, John Jr. manifested no inclination to go out at
all. A kind of torpor seemed to have settled upon him, and day after
day he remained at home, sometimes in a deep study in his own room,
and sometimes sitting in the parlor, where his very unlover-like
deportment frequently brought tears to Mabel's eyes, while Carrie
loudly denounced him as the most clownish fellow she ever saw.

"I hope you'll train him, Mabel," said she, "for he needs it. He
ought to have had Nellie Douglass. She's a match for him. Why
didn't you have her, John?"

With a face dark as night, he angrily requested Carrie "to mind her
own business," saying "he was fully competent to take charge of
himself, without the interference of either wife or sister."

"Oh, what if he should look and talk so to me!" thought Mabel,
shuddering as a dim foreboding of her sad future came over her.

'Lena who understood John Jr. better t