a finish him who avers aught to the contrary.
I cannot expect you, who have never seen her, to share my
enthusiasm, of course. But if you knew her, Miss Eliza, if you knew
her!

"Words fail me in an effort at description, but will it suffice to
say that I am perfectly satisfied to gaze at her all day long, day
in and day out? This surely must convey something to you who knew
me well of old and will remember that I was ever most critical,
having the idea then that my bent was artistic.

"I could hardly believe in my own good fortune, Miss Eliza, when
she said she would have me. I asked her all over again,
immediately, just to make sure. So now the former Miss Elinor
Harvey is Mrs. Ross Worthington.

"To make a long story short, I have told her about Arethusa, and
she is most anxious to know her new daughter. As she is possessed
of considerably more of this world's goods than is your humble
servant--the one thing I have against her--she has insisted upon
herself enclosing a check for our daughter's immediate needs, and
this daughter is to come as soon as you and Miss Letitia can get
her ready. Don't be sparing with this check; I am instructed to
add, more will be sent if necessary.

"My wife--I do love to write that word, Miss Eliza,--says that she
will write, herself, very shortly. She is most busy at present,
turning her house upside down from garret to cellar, but she says
that when it is finished it will be a most beautiful house.

"Give my love to Miss Letitia and my darling daughter, Arethusa,
and my most knightly devotion always to Miss Asenath, bless her!
My wife joins me in all kind wishes for your household.

"Yours affectionately,

"ROSS WORTHINGTON."

Arethusa hugged herself ecstatically and then pressed her lips to the
Letter until the ink smudged. It was a wonderful Letter!

And the whole of the situation revealed in it appealed to her. The
Romance (a love story brought even nearer home than Miss Asenath's, for
it was her own dearest father who was living it right now); the Beauty
of the bride, so plainly stated, and Arethusa loved beauty with all the
fire of her romantic young soul; and the bride's Wealth, undoubtedly
intimated, which gave the necessary touch of luxury to the picture, for
Arethusa loved the fleshpots also, if an innocent liking for silks and
satins and baronial hall