304 MATRIMONY AND MOONSHINE. 



Mrs. Golightly's by one of her most trusty servants, who, duly impressed 

 with the importance of his mission, announced his arrival by such a 

 thundering rap as shook the frail nerves of the lady no less than the 

 not " too solid " walls of her tenement. " Surely," exclaimed she, 

 frightened from her propriety, " that blockhead, Robinson, has not 

 brought them back ! " 



The delivery of the missal restored her equanimity ; and examin- 

 ing, with something of a supercilious smile, the wide splashy seal on 

 which the armorial bearings of Evergreen (a fess sable on a field 

 argent charged with three puncheons, or) were duly set forth, she 

 threw aside the envelope, and carefully perused the inclosure. 



'And you, madam, as one connected with my family,' repeated 

 Mrs. Golightly, as she placed the letter on the table. " Mighty con- 

 descension to be sure ! Mrs. Evergreen will really and truly, seeing 

 she cannot help herself, consider my daughter as her son's wife. 

 Vastly kind of her indeed !" And as she made these reflections she 

 determined to continue that part which she had commenced to act 

 with Mr. Robinson, and for which, to do her justice, she appeared to 

 have a natural instinct. But this faithful man of business being, as 

 we have seen, very leisurely employed on his northern excursion, she 

 was thrown on her own resources in the composition of such an answer 

 as befitted the occasion ; and, though thus left unaided, she acquitted 

 herself of the task so skilfully that I am inclined to think she would 

 be found, on a due investigation, to be provided with what the cra- 

 niologists call the bump of diplomacy lying, (if I remember Dr. 

 Spurtziem's last lecture,) somewhere between and connected with the 

 organs of duplicity and dulness. Now was the moment, she thought, 

 defairesvaloir her aristocratic pretensions, and to obtain a triumph 

 over her plebeian antagonist in this contest of blood versus money. 

 Setting herself down, therefore, to her writing-table, she struck off 

 an aristocratic epistle, the tenor of which the reader will doubtless 

 understand. 



This was a terrible rebuff to Mrs. Evergreen's friendly overtures, 

 and made her more than ever regret her son's amour. " Oh ! thought 

 she, " if I could once get him in my power ! " But, alas ! he was 

 now some hundred miles away from her." 



CHAP. III. THE RENCONTRE. 



YOUNG Evergreen and his fair companion travelled for the first two 

 days with all due diligence ; but as our hero was not one of those 

 poetic youths, who i3 "of imagination all compact," and who, by 

 virtue of this invaluable gift, tf can cloy the hungry edge of appetite 

 by bare imagination of a feast," he began about this period, having 

 fed for nearly eight and forty hours on the charms of his intended 

 bride, to hunger for more substantial fare ; and the appearance of a 

 good inn at Carlisle worked so powerfully on his spirit, that in spite 

 even of Jemima's eloquence, he insisted on a temporary halt. She 

 was more disposed to have completed the journey ; for though 

 scarcely fearing pursuit, as far as her own family was concerned, she 

 could not reckon so securely on the Evergreens; and she felt a 



