(Q) 
THE HONEYMOON. 267 
his wife, he continued, " I would go immediate- 
ly in search of Miss ," (repeating her maid- 
en name,) " offer to her my heart and hand, be 
blessed by receiving hers in return, and then get 
married as soon as possible. 
This unexpected reply, so deliberately and firm- 
ly expressed, had the effect to produce instant 
silence. The satirical portion of the young gen- 
tlemen understood and appreciated its full force. 
They were suddenly abashed. It was a contrast 
with their own conduct too striking not to have 
its own weight. The young wife, who was the 
subject of it, was so deeply affected, so filled 
with gratitude, that she had been spared the in- 
fliction of a pain she so fervently deprecated, that 
she sprang from her seat, and fell upon his neck, 
and with a tear of joy glistening in her eye, said, 
in a subdued tone, 
" My beloved husband, that answer is in conso- 
nance with what, to me, you have ever been. 
Would that I were more worthy of your most 
devoted affection." 
" More w^orthy, my dear wife," he returned ; 
" more worthy you cannot be. You are to me a 
jewel of inestimable worth. Deprived of you, life 
would be to me but one unrelieved blank." 
He then impressed upon her forehead an impas- 
sioned kiss, and seated her gently beside him. 
But the scene did not end here. The voices of 
those who, a few moments before, were loudest 
^ 
