aim to my promised hand. I protested
in vain, and, as the daughter was invisible, I left the house in a
rage.

A week, which seemed like a century, passed by on leaden wings in
which I strove to drown my sorrows in the "flowing bowl" of hard work,
and foolish declarations that "I didn't care"; then came a kind letter
from Alderman B----, gracefully apologizing for his wife's mistaken
assertions, stating that "Mary was giving them no peace day or night,"
and inviting me to call at my earliest convenience.

The very next train took me to the old familiar trysting-place, once
more the white-winged dove of peace brooded over the B--mansion,
and we all, especially the parents, fully realized that in order to
appreciate heaven we must have at least seven days of hell.

Shortly after, at the home of the bride's parents, we twain were made
one in the presence of numerous friends and presents; the old shoes
and rice were duly showered, and we were off for a month's tour, and a
lifelong honeymoon.

During this wedding tour, at the request of my employers, I combined
business with pleasure, the firm generously paying all our expenses,
and continuing my salary.

We visited many cities, greatly enjoying their varied attractions; but
the business part of our journey, which was collecting large sums of
money due for books, was not particularly delightful, as the banks had
all suspended specie payments as a result of the "green back craze,"
and I was often obliged to resort to legal measures and attachments of
property, to secure from reluctant book sellers the sums long overdue.

At one hotel we met with an adventure which well-nigh proved serious.
I was awakened at night by the flash from a bull's eye lantern, a
sense of suffocation and a scream from my wife. A masked burglar
was before me, pressing to my face a handkerchief saturated with
chloroform, and endeavoring to take from under the mattress a large
sum of money which I had collected the day before.

"No noise," said he, "your money or your life."

"All right," said I quietly, "I'll get it for you." He stepped back a
pace, I quickly pulled from under the pillow my self-cocking revolver,
and fired in rapid succession.

His pistol exploded at nearly the same time, he dropped to the floor,
his light vanished, and for a time all was darkness and suspense. I
expected another bullet any moment, and seeing nothing to fire at
myself, feared to jump from the bed lest I be se