fancy to nibble it as I drive about in my
cabriolet, or whatever they call this French affair of mine."

"For a wonder, you have the word right;" and I laughed in his honest
face.

"I am going to France, next spring, when the Stanburys go over, just to
see what strides medicine is making across the waters, and to rest
myself a little, improve my Gallic pronunciation, and get the fashions,
and I will take you as my interpreter, if you promise to be very good
and obedient in the interval."

"Oh, thank you; I would like it of all things. But what takes the
Stanburys abroad? I have heard nothing of this plan of theirs before."

"Pleasure and business combined, I believe. They will remain abroad some
years, for the education of George Gaston. What an idol Mrs. Stanbury is
making of that boy, to be sure, and Laura is just as foolish about him
as her mother! By-the-by, she is to be married, they say, to that young
Prussian nobleman, who was there so much last winter. I forget his
unpronounceable name. They will reside in Berlin, I understand, should
the marriage be '_unfait accompli_,' as the French have it. Is not that
right, Miriam?"

"Oh, admirably pronounced! You are becoming quite a Gaul in your old
age."

"I hope I shall never become gall and wormwood, in any event, like some
old folks. Now, is not that being literal, Miriam?"

"And witty, as well! You must have been associating with Dr. C----n,
lately."

"So you can't give me credit for a little originality, because my
facetious vein is new to you. Now, do your old friend justice, and
believe even in his puns; if not pungent, he is self-sustaining and
independent; but, remember, I count on you absolutely, next week. One
trunk apiece and no bandboxes or baskets. A green-silk travelling-bonnet
and pongee habit. This is my uniform, for my female guard. Carry Grey
knows my whims, and will observe them. By-the-by, you will like my
niece."

We made a delightful tour, which occupied the whole month of August, and
I came back refreshed, soul and body; as for Carry Grey, she revived,
like a plant that had been newly tended and watered after long neglect.
For the poor girl had been making a slave of herself for two years in
her widowed brother's household, consisting of many little children, and
needed repose from her multifarious duties.

He was going to marry again soon, she told me, and then she hoped to
feel at liberty to fulfill her own engagement of five years