own to Richmond and married on a Sunday, to save a
talk and a show; they walked out of the opera where Handel might be
performing, and observant gentlemen took the cue, followed on their
heels, and had the knot tied by a priest, waiting in the house opposite
the first chair-stand. Indeed, they contracted alliances so
unceremoniously, that they went to Queen Caroline's or the Princesses'
drawing-room, without either themselves or the world appearing quite
sure whether they were maids or wives. Dear! dear! what did come of
these foolish impulsive matches? Did they fulfil the time out of mind
adage, "Happy's the wooing that's not long a-doing"? or that other old
proverb, "Marry in haste, and repent at leisure"? Which was the truth?

It is a pity that you should see Dulcie, for the first time, in tears.
Dulcie, who only cried on great occasions, in great sorrow or great
joy--not above half-a-dozen times in her life. Dulcie, whom the
smallpox could not spoil, with her pretty forehead, cat's eyes, and
fine chin. Does that description give you an idea of Dulcie--Dulcie
Cowper, not yet Madam, but any day she liked Mistress Dulcie? It seems
expressive. An under-sized, slight-made girl, with a little face
clearly, very clearly cut, but round in all its lines as yet; an
intelligent face, an enthusiastic face, a face that could be very
shrewd and practical, and, at the same time, a face that could be
lavishly generous. The chief merit of her figure lay in this
particular, that she "bridled" well. Yes, it is true, we have almost
forgotten the old accomplishment of "bridling"--the head up and the
chin in, with the pliant knees bent in a low curtsey. Dulcie
"bridled," as she prattled, to perfection. She had light brown hair,
of the tint of a squirrel's fur, and the smoothness of a mouse's coat,
though it was twisted and twirled into a kind of soft willowy curls
when she was in high dress. Ah! no wonder that Kit Cowper, the
cloth-worker, groaned to see that bright face pass from his ninepin
alley; but it was the way of the world, or rather the will of
Providence to the cloth-worker, that the child should fulfil her
destiny. So Dulcie was launched on the sea of life, as far as
Redwater, to push her fortune.

No wonder Dulcie was liked by Clarissa Gage. Clarissa was two years
younger than Dulcie, but she was half-a-dozen years older in knowledge
of the world, and therefore fell in love with Dulcie for the sake of
variety. Clarissa had