the expression may be allowed, he would take his walks
abroad after office hours or on a Sunday afternoon, wondering where and
how he should meet his future wife.

Business, which naturally had tended to harden him, had left,
nevertheless, a good deal of shyness untouched. His uneventful bachelor
life, too, had done nothing to eradicate this; and it is a painful fact
that he had spoken almost to no woman, save his housekeeper or
customers, for a dozen years. This may read oddly, but it is not so odd
as it looks. A man with little money, his way to make, and a sense of
disappointment, is not anxious at first to extend his circle of friends.
When he has made some progress, then it will be time enough, or so he
thinks. But it is not always time enough, as Henry Brown found to his
cost. His few friends were bachelors like himself, and when he began
seriously to think of marrying he was puzzled how to set about it. He
despised the idea of using a matrimonial agency, and he felt himself too
old and respectable to pick up chance acquaintances in the street. But
Cupid, who disdains no servitor, however aged, gave him his chance at
last, and a better chance than he had any right to expect.

An attractive young woman, apparently foreign but speaking good English,
called one day to order a taxi. Mr. Brown, who booked the order himself,
was distinctly struck by her appearance. He was not so absurd as to fall
in love at first sight--an unusual proceeding, _pace_ the
penny-a-liners,--for the cautious routine of years is a fetter not
lightly to be broken. But being, so to speak, on the alert for a
possible mate, he now took more than a business interest in his
customers. He noticed, therefore, that this young woman was certainly
pretty, neat and decided, and he put her down as a lady's maid in a
"superior" house. He made no advances on this, their first meeting, but
he could not help wishing that she would come again soon. "She has a Way
with her," mused the cab-proprietor after she had gone, "and I must say
I like her; and her dress was nice, though plain. Well, a plain dress
doesn't run a husband into debt." He was painfully ignorant.

She came again a fortnight later on a similar errand, and this time Mr.
Brown dared to unbend from his official attitude and remark that it was
fine weather. The young woman agreed with a charming smile, and Mr.
Brown caught himself thinking quite seriously about her more than once
during the day. H