repeated to the Pounds, while at the same
time the remarks of the Pounds about the Ayrs were repeated to the
Ayrs, the result being that Miss Josephine said that it must be a
great satisfaction to Mrs. Pound to feel that she would probably
always have her daughters with her, especially as they were already of
an age to have many tastes in common with her, and the Misses Pound
said that it was truly painful to see people who had once been very
wealthy reduced in circumstances, like the Ayrs, for example, and
that both families were carefully polite when they met.

Now Mr. Margent was thought to be on the point of declaring himself,
and when he appeared one afternoon his intentions were obvious. He
was, if possible, more scrupulously dressed than ever. His clothes,
trimly cut in the latest style, were new and spotless. His plump, not
to say puffy, face, of an overfed white, was as smooth-shaven as ever.
His plentiful watch-chain and his elegant shoes and his expensive
stockings were, if possible, more plentiful and elegant and expensive
than ever. When Miss Josephine appeared in a fresh costume, his small
gray eyes revolved about her with an appearance of sluggish
satisfaction which for him was almost animation.

"Business," said he--"business's been splendid this year. Tip-top. C.
B. & Q. brought us in ten thousand at one clip the other day. Fact;"
and Mr. Margent paused for a fresh supply of ideas.

"How nice that is!" said Miss Josephine, gently, with a shade of
tender appreciation in her voice.

"But it costs a dreadful deal to live. We all live at hotels, you
know--all the boys. And then a fellow has to have his cab: all
the boys have cabs. And then we've got to have clothes. But I'm
economizing on that. I cut myself down to twenty suits last year. I
don't see any use of a fellow's having more than twenty suits;" and
Mr. Margent paused again, intellectually out of breath.

"I think you're a very extravagant creature," said the charming Miss
Josephine, playfully shaking her finger at him. "If you had a wife to
take care of you, you wouldn't be allowed to spend so much money."

"Well, do you know, I've been thinking of getting married. I was
talking with the boys about it the other day. I said I believed a man
could support a wife on seven thousand a year--keeping a fellow's cab,
and staying at the hotel, you know, and all that sort of thing"--he
hastened to add, with a little anxiety in his voice. "The boys bet