s basket
beside her, and the cat on her lap. Lastly, they were plighted lovers,
and John was staying with Miss Bussey for the express purpose of
delighting and being delighted by his fiancee, Mary Travers. For these
and all their mercies certainly they should have been truly thankful.

However the heart of man is wicked. This fact alone can explain why
Mary sat sadly in the drawing-room, feeling a letter that was tucked
inside her waistband and John strode moodily up and down the gravel
walk, a cigar, badly bitten, between his teeth, and his hand over and
again covertly stealing toward his breast-pocket and pressing a scented
note that lay there. In the course of every turn John would pass the
window of the drawing-room; then Mary would look up with a smile and
blow him a kiss, and he nodded and laughed and returned the salute.
But, the window passed, both sighed deeply and returned to lingering
those hidden missives.

"Poor little girl! I must keep it up," said John.

"Dear good John! He must never know," thought Mary.

And the two fell to thinking just what was remarked a few lines back,
namely, that the human heart is very wicked; they were shocked at
themselves; the young often are.

Miss Bussey awoke, sat up, evicted the cat, and found her spectacles.

"Where are those children?" said she. "Billing and cooing somewhere, I
suppose. Bless me, why don't they get tired of it?"

They had--not indeed of billing and cooing in general, for no one at
their age does or ought to get tired of that--but of billing and cooing
with one another.

It will be observed that the situation promised well for a tragedy.
Nevertheless this is not the story of an unhappy marriage.

If there be one thing which Government should forbid, it is a secret
engagement. Engagements should be advertised as marriages are; but
unless we happen to be persons of social importance, or considerable
notoriety, no such precautions are taken. Of course there are
engagement rings; but a man never knows one when he sees it on a lady's
hand--it would indeed be impertinent to look too closely--and when he
goes out alone he generally puts his in his pocket, considering that
the evening will thus be rendered more enjoyable. The Ashforth--Travers
engagement was not a secret now, but it had been, and had been too
long. Hence, when Mary went to Scotland and met Charlie Ellerton, and
when John went to Switzerland and met Dora Bellairs-the truth is, they
ough