OR WHICH WILL HE WED ? 407 



the die :" but an ordinary wife created no sensation in the circles of ton, 

 and he had discovered that a beautiful one, without wit, would be but a 

 sorry companion for life. In short, Henry was sorely perplexed, filled 

 with delight and admiration, and pierced with innumerable regrets. 

 The Christmas festivals had passed away, and fashion was again crowding 

 to the metropolis, yet strange as it may appear it certainly was with 

 pleasure Henry understood that Mr. and Mrs. Atherstone proposed 

 spending the spring on their estate. Miss Werner having promised to 

 remain their guest. January and February passed away like all sublunary 

 things, and the mellow note of the throstle, the soft cooing of the ring- 

 dove, and the pleasant murmur of the vagrant bee, proved the arrival of 

 March, yet still found Captain Atherstone a fixture at the Abbey; his 

 brother, laughingly, urged his return to St. James's, while the " ill- 

 favoured and elderly" smiled maliciously, and recommended him to turn 

 Benedict immediately : he started with emotion, as if some hidden day- 

 dream had been discovered, and from that moment fell into a fit of 

 musing upon the respectability, the harmony, and the happiness of the 

 wedded life, his eyes ever and anon glancing timidly at Miss Werner. 

 ** I'll sleep on it," finally determined the vacillating Captain, winding up 

 some private meditations of his own, *' I'll sleep on it — nothing should 

 be done without reflection." He did so, and dreamed a thousand incom- 

 prehensible things ; at one moment he fancied himself deep in a 

 declaration to Lady Eleanor, when suddenly the dark features of Miss 

 Werner peered into his face ; again he imagined that he was at St. 

 George's, that Miss Werner, covered with diamonds, and looking more 

 intolerably ugly than ever, was the bride, "a change came o'er the 

 spirit of his dream," and the Lady Eleanor supplied her place. To be 

 brief, a crowd of odd whimsies flitted across his brain, and were only 

 dispersed when the daylight peeping into his chamber, awoke him from 

 his sleep. ** Well — what was the result of his cogitations?" anxiously 

 (we trust) inquires the reader. Curious fool ! be still ! is the rather 

 petulant repulse given, somewhat unceremoniously, by the " immortal 

 bard " of Newstead to his inquisitive peruser ; we will, however, be less 

 crabbed and more considerate towards the fair and noble ones who, we 

 are nothing loth to imagine, shed the lustre of their eyes upon our 

 pages. Stay then a moment, bright and courtly belle, suspense shall 

 speedily be terminated. 



"My cousin, Kate Werner, has but a paltry three hundred a year, 

 with no expectancies, no bequests, no reversions, legacies, or life- 

 interests in view," said Mrs. Atherstone, in addition to some prior 

 information which she had been giving her inquiring brother-in-law. 

 ** Pshaw !" exclaimed the latter, hastily, his brow reddening as he spoke, 

 ** I care not for fortune, my uncle's unexpected inheritance has rendered 

 it no longer a matter of prudential consideration." "But Kate is far 

 from being 'beautiful — she is is actually vilaine j" rather musingly con- 

 tinued Mrs. A. ** She is more than beautiful, my dear Madam !" 

 returned the Captain with energy, "she is a woman in whose society life 

 would be a paradise ! feeling, gentle, amiable, highly-gifted" — " Hush ! 

 hush !" interrupted the ill-favoured, eagerly and playfully, "have mercy 

 upon my feminine failing ! what woman can hear another praised in her 

 presence ? A truce then with raptures, and remember Kate is neither 

 rich nor beautiful, and how could you be happy with a wife whose 

 ugliness, like some rugged evergreen, remained a continual reflection 

 upon your taste." " Cease, my dear Mrs. Atherstone, cease, I beseech 

 you, to tantalize me with the remembrance of my folly : the qualities of 

 the heart and mind are the only genuine passports to wedded happiness." 



