MODERN CONSTANCY. 79 



hands and city graces to the admiring damsels of Millville. 

 She was once greatly endangered by the moving discourse of 

 a middle-aged clergyman, who, soon after the death of his wife, 

 officiated in her father's pulpit. The grave demeanor of this 

 worthy man excited Fanny's deepest sympathy, and she would 

 fain have condoled with him and comforted him, when she ac- 

 cidentally discovered that he had already found consolation in 

 the favor of her mature maiden aunt. 



So time passed on, while Fanny grew prettier, and plumper 

 than ever, in spite of her many sorrows and disappointments, 

 until at eighteen she was decidedly the loveliest girl in Millville. 

 But her assumed air of sentimentality sat as ill upon her as her 

 grandmother's tab-cap might have done. In spite of herself, 

 smiles would dimple her round cheek, or flit over her pouting 

 lip ; and a merry light would dance in her blue eyes, just when 

 she most wished to exhibit their humid lustre. Poor Fanny ! 

 what trouble it cost her to resist her own cheerful and mirthful 

 impulses ! 



So thought and so said her cousin Frank Hartwell, but 

 Fanny only regarded him with a half-angry feeling. 



" You do not understand me, Frank," she would say " no- 

 body does comprehend me ; I shall go down to my early grave 

 unappreciated." 



" Pshaw, Fanny : every body would love you if you would 

 only lay aside your mopish notions, and as for an early grave, 



