176 LOVE IN A COTTAGE. 



was anxious to be relieved of her charge, liked nobody so 

 well ; not because he had much to offer, but because it was 

 little he required. 



Soon after their marriage the happy pair set out for Paris. 

 F , though his means were slender and tastes retired, made 

 every effort (as far as bridegroom could so feel it) to gratify his 

 lively young wife by a stay at the capital of pleasure. After 

 a subsequent excursion, they returned within a year to Eng- 

 land, and settled at a pretty cottage in Berkshire, to which 

 we speedily received a cordial invitation. It was no less 

 readily accepted; for we were anxious to behold the " rural 

 felicity," of which we little doubted that our friends were in 

 full possession. 



The result, however, of a week's sojourn at their quiet 

 abode, was the reluctant opinion that, somehow or another, the 

 marriage garments of the young couple did not sit quite easy ; 

 though to point out the defect in their make, or to discover 

 where they girted, were matters on which it required more 

 time to form a decided judgment. One thing, however, was 

 pretty obvious. With her matronly title, Emily had not 

 assumed an atom of that seriousness not sad, but sober 

 which became her new estate ; nor did she, as we shrewdly 

 suspected, pay quite as much attention to the cares of her 

 little menage as was rendered incumbent by the limited amount 

 of her husband's income. She seemed, in short, the same 

 thoughtless pleasure-loving, pleasure-seeking girl as ever* 



