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 really this is a serious question about Milly, in which we ought to put aside every personal consideration."

"Certainly we must, and I am serious too. Well now, my sweet Rose, I have yielded to you hitherto, even when my own sense of discretion would have prompted me to do otherwise, because I had confidence in your judgment, and will you not for once trust me in mine?"

"To be sure I willy but don't imagine that I suppose you are so yielding as to give up to me unless I am able to convince you of the plausibility, at least, of my undertaking. Mother, what do you say? You ought to know Milly quite as well as I do."

"She is not one I should have thought of proposing for the place, but I am not ready to deny the possibility of your husband's prediction. If she feels herself competent for the task, and desirous to go, I should have no fear. These artists are more accurate judges of the real qualities of the soul than such prosaic beings as you and I. I could mention many among my acquaintance who thought Ernest Livingston as wild in his selection of a wife as you now think him to be, but I rather think he is fully satisfied that he did not refer the question to their judgment, or even judge you by appearances."

With a merry laugh Mr. Livingston then rose, and after hastily pressing his blushing wife to his bosom, threaded his way to Lilly's garden, whither he had just caught a glimpse of Milly passing, that being a chosen retreat of hers, and also her special charge now. Flowers bloomed there through all the blossoming season in greater beauty than in any other