time to make their bill out. I suppose, Sir, they must have heard of the death of some relative."
"Very like, very like!" I muttered in a dream-like way, as Hamlet does when they tell him of the Ghost; and, tearing open the note, I read this:—
"Sir,—When you again assist a young lady to break through her ties of filial duty and obedience, I should advise you to first ascertain if the young lady is a free agent.
Yours truly,
"A free agent, indeed! Well that is cool of the old Dragon, when he knows what a tight prisoner he 's kept her." And—metaphorically speaking, of course!—I foamed at the mouth with fury and excitement.
When Nelly heard the news, she was as much astonished as I had been; and when the post had come in, our mystification was still further increased; for, she received a letter from Fred. which had been written on the morning of the day when the elopement ought to have taken place, in which he said (referring to some people my sister knew) "the J.'s have got a picnic in hand for to-morrow, in which I expect some of ours will be ingloriously taken captive. Bessie J. is to bring all her battery of charms to bear upon poor Alvanley, whom we have forcibly compelled to accept the invite. He has been 'all in the downs,' lately; and we thought that a dose of Bessie's flirtation would do him good. So, perhaps, you may hear of your friend being engaged to my friend; but I trust she will not deprive herself of the pleasure of being your bridesmaid."
And so it seemed, that while I was keeping my vigil, and pacing my lonely round, and while Amy was on
