THE BOARDING-HOUSE. 489 



" And will you betray me ?" eagerly inquired Hicks, who in his 

 alarm had even forgotten to quote. 



/ betray you ! Won't you betray me ?" 



<( Never : no one shall know to my dying day that you had a hand 

 in the business/' responded the agitated Hicks, with an inflamed 

 countenance,, and his hair standing on end as if he were on the stool 

 of an electrifying machine in full operation. 



" People must know that some time or other within a year, I 

 imagine/' said Mr. Calton, with an air of great self-complacency 

 " We may have a family, you know." 



We I That won't affect you, surely." 



" The devil it won't !" 



"No! How can it? said the bewildered Hicks. Calton was too 

 much enwrapped in the contemplation of happiness to see the equi- 

 voque between Hicks and himself; and throwing himself back in his 

 chair, " Oh, Matilda !" sighed the antique beau, in a lack-a-daysical 

 voice, and applying his right hand a little to the left of the fourth 

 button of his waistcoat, counting from the bottom. This was meant 

 to be pathetic " Oh, Matilda !" 



" What Matilda ?" inquired Hicks, starting up. 



" Matilda Maplesone," responded the other, doing the same. 



" I marry her to-morrow morning/' said Hicks, furiously. 



" It's false/' rejoined his companion : " I marry her !" 



" You marry her !" 



" I marry her !" 



" You marry Matilda Maplesone ?" 



" Matilda Maplesone." 



" Miss Maplesone marry you ?" 



" Miss Maplesone ? No : Mrs. Maplesone." 



" Good God !" said Hicks, falling into his chair like Ward in 

 Gustavus : " You marry the mother, and I the daughter !" 



" Most extraordinary circumstance !" replied Mr. Calton, te and 

 rather inconvenient too ; for the fact is, that owing to Matilda's 

 wishing to keep her intention secret from her daughters until the 

 ceremony has taken place, she doesn't like applying to any of her 

 friends to give her away. I entertain an objection to making the 

 affair known to my acquaintance just now ; and the consequence is, 

 that I sent to you to know whether you'd oblige me by acting as 

 father/' 



" I should have been most happy, I assure you." said Hicks, in a 

 tone of condolence, " but you see I shall be acting as bridegroom. 

 One character is frequently a consequence of the other ; but it is no 

 usual to act in both at the same time. There's Simpson I have no 

 doubt he'll do it for you." 



" I don't like to ask him," replied Calton, cf he's such a donkey." 



Mr. Septimus Hicks looked up at the ceiling and down at the 

 floor ; at last an idea struck him " Let the man of the house, Tibbs, 

 be the father," he suggested ; and then he quoted, as peculiarly ap- 

 plicable to Tibbs and the pair : 



" Oh, Powers of Heaven ! what dark eye meeets she there ? 



'Tis tis her father's fixed upon the pair." 

 M.M. No. 101. 3 R 



