6 Four-in-Hand in Britain. 



continues — nay has increased, for his fears and selfish 

 wants have multiplied since he was an innocent, igno- 

 rant child, and he has much more to ask from God for 

 his own ends, now that he is a wise man and is sup- 

 posed to know much (chuckle — chuckle — chuckle). 



" There is another mortal," we hear the Fate saying 

 to the Good Fairy. " Look at her, decked out in all 

 the vagaries of changeable Fashion ; note her fixed-up 

 look, her conventional air, her nervous, unmeaning, sim- 

 pering smile — the same to-day, yesterday, and forever — 

 something to all men, much to none. See her at home 

 in her chamber ! Why mopes she, looking so haggard, 

 with features expressionless and inane ? What worm 

 gnaws at her heart and makes her life so petty? She, 

 too, came into the world a bright and happy thing, 

 and grew up fond of music and of birds, and with a 

 passion for flowers and all of Nature's sweets ; so care- 

 ful, too, of mother and of father, the very embodiment 

 of love to all around her. You should have seen her 

 in her teens, a glorious ray from heaven — ' making 

 a sunshine in a shady place '—so natural, so hearty, 

 with a carolling laugh like the falling of waters. In 

 her most secret prayers she asked only for a kind 

 lover with a fair competence, that they might live mod- 

 estly, without ostentation. She was a good girl and I 

 granted her wish and more," says Fate. " Her air-castle 

 was small, but I sent her a magnificent one. She is 

 courted, flattered, has every gift in my power to be- 



