d his mother, who had only an annuity of
twelve pounds a year, consumed it all. Still you see he was by no means
actually starving; and he thought the young wife he was going to bring
home would be no very great addition to his expenses, and he trusted, if
children came, that he should, by his exertions, be able to provide for
them. In two years his engagement with the present gentleman as his
assistant would be at an end; and he had received from the old man, who
was a sort of humorist in his way, several very strong hints about
partnership, if he would be satisfied with a reasonable share.
Partnership would, in the course of time, he knew, become sole
proprietorship, at the death or retirement of his aged patron--one of
which events could not be very far distant.

It was, therefore, with great satisfaction, after having summoned the
necessary attendance, and sent his young betrothed to rest, that Fisher
walked home on a fine fresh morning.

It was true he had taken a step most people would call very imprudent,
thus to encumber himself with a young wife at the very outset of his
career; certainly, he had never intended any such thing. He had always
resolved to be patient, and have a little store of money by him, before
he persuaded any one to begin the world with him. He could not bear the
idea of all being dependent upon his own life, and risking the chance of
leaving a widow and a young family destitute. But this was an
exceptional case, for he could not, without trembling, contemplate the
dangers which surrounded this young and innocent girl. His medical
knowledge taught him but too well the perils to the health of one so
fresh and blooming, from labors in close rooms to which she was so
little accustomed--death stared her in the face, unless she escaped it
by means at which he shuddered to think.

The only way in which he, young as he was, could possibly help her, was
to withdraw her from the dangerous scene and make her his wife; and on
that step he had been for some days resolving. The emotion she had
shown, the timorous joy, the sweet confidence in his love and honor, had
given a rapturous feeling of happiness to him quite new. He had intended
benevolently and kindly; he had met with all the blessings of sincere
attachment.

Instead of walking to Mrs. Stedman's to take some rest, which he very
much needed, he went to his mother's house, or rather the house where he
had taken a snug little apartment for his m