Mr. and Mrs. Sparkler. 153 



ful place in Buttercupshire, which they have leased for a 

 term from his lordship. 



''As both the youthful Benedick and his bride are partial 

 to the chase (the lady especially being a capital horse- 

 woman, and very well known with both her Majesty's 

 Staghounds and the Brighton Harriers), we shall, no 

 doubt, hear of them * showing the way ' during the 

 coming season, with that celebrated pack, the ' Old 

 Harkaway.' " 



''There now," exclaimed Mrs. Gapeseed, starting up 

 from her chair, her face scarlet with indignation, " that's 

 the most shocking piece of news I've heard for a very 

 considerable time. To think of the many charming girls 

 there are in this very neighbourhood (in this very house 

 she might have added, for there were five Miss Gapeseeds, 

 all, as David Copperfield's friend, Mr. Barkis, would say, 

 ' willin' to marry the first eligible suitor that came their 

 way), any one of whom would have made that wretched, 

 infatuated young man a most excellent wife. And then 

 to go and fall headlong into the net of that bad, bold- 

 faced, golden-haired hussey (I feel certain she's golden- 

 haired) — with all his money, too ! it's really too horrible 

 for words. Nobody, of course, will notice them. / most 

 certainly shall not call," said Mrs. Gapeseed, with a 

 virtuous shudder, nearly pulling the bell-rope down in 

 her wrath as she rang for some more coals. 



When Mrs. Gapeseed and her friends had got over the 

 excitement caused by the news of this terrible marriage, 

 the next question of course was what this dreadful young 

 person whom the volatile youth had taken to himself for 

 better or worse, was like. They were all dying to look 

 at her. Consequently when it oozed out that Mr. and 



