ry like a fountain, with the exception that it ejected out double the
amount it took in. Mrs. Fountain--as anybody might have known--let it
get all over town. And then the vulgar herd took it up, as if it were
assafoetida, only needing a little stirring up, and hurled it back at
the St. Cecilia, the character of which it would damage without a pang
of remorse.

"Then the thing got to Constance's ears; and getting into a terrible
passion, poor Constance swore nothing would satisfy him but the
Baronet's life. But the Baronet--"

"A sorry Baronet was he--not a bit like my dear ancestor, Sir
Sunderland," Mrs. Swiggs interposes.

"Not a bit, Madam," bows our hero. "Like a sensible gentleman, as I was
about to say, finding it getting too hot for him, packed up his alls,
and in the company of his unpaid servant, left for parts westward of
this. I had a suspicion the fellow was not what he should be; and I made
it known to my select friends of the St. Cecilia, who generally
pooh-poohed me. A nobleman, they said, should receive every attention.
And to show that he wasn't what he should be, when he got to Augusta his
servant sued him for his wages; and having nothing but his chivalry,
which the servant very sensibly declined to accept for payment, he came
out like a man, and declared himself nothing but a poor player.

"But this neither satisfied Constance nor stayed the drifting current of
slander--"

"Oh! I am so glad it was no worse," Mrs. Swiggs interrupts again.

"True!" Mr. Soloman responds, laughing heartily, as he taps her on the
arm. "It might have been worse, though. Well, I am, as you know, always
ready to do a bit of a good turn for a friend in need, and pitying poor
Constance as I did, I suggested a committee of four most respectable
gentlemen, and myself, to investigate the matter. The thing struck
Constance favorably, you see. So we got ourselves together, agreed to
consider ourselves a Congress, talked over the affairs of the nation,
carried a vote to dissolve the Union, drank sundry bottles of Champagne,
(I longed for a taste of your old Madeira, Mrs. Swiggs,) and brought in
a verdict that pleased Mrs. Constance wonderfully--and so it ought. We
were, after the most careful examination, satisfied that the reports
prejudicial to the character and standing of Mrs. Constance had no
foundation in truth, being the base fabrications of evil-minded persons,
who sought, while injuring an innocent lady, to damage the