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“He is certainly going to South America, but I never knew that he had lost much money by his speculations there.”

“Nor do I say that he has, but as every body else has, I do not see how he can have escaped;” and then added, after a short pause, and in an embarrassed and tremulous voice, “are you, tell me, Julia, are you going with him?”

“Me! no, George; what could put such a wild thought into your head?”

“And what then is to become of you during his absence, that must necessarily be a long one?”

“I shall remain with my aunt Selwyn in Bristol, till she returns to Clifton.”

“Julia, you know that I love you, and you have given me reason to believe that I am far from indifferent to you; then why not, my dearest girl, give me the right to protect and provide for you at once, instead of delegating it to a maiden aunt, who, whatever may be her good qualities, has, as you know, always regarded me with dislike and jealousy.”

“I cannot, George, without my father’s consent.”

“Your hand, then, goes where he chooses to bestow it, let your affections be where they will.”

“It is a duty that I owe to him to attend to his wishes, and listen to his advice.”

“So then, if he advises you to marry the fool Dormington, or the brute Foxley, you obey unhesitatingly?”

“George, this is unkind; you are supposing an extreme case.”

“But you say you will obey him; you repeat that it is your duty to listen to his advice in all cases.”

“I will never marry without his consent, but I will never marry any one that I dislike.”

“That is intimating, rather obliquely, to be sure, that you may alter your mind.”

“O George, George,” said the weeping girl, “why will you continue to torment me and yourself with these jealous doubts and suspicions? why will you not rather ask my father’s consent? you know his affection for you.”

“Yes, propose such a question, and what is the reply? a peremptory refusal, and an immediate dismissal from his employment. Now that his mind is so much taken up with his new scheme, such a proceeding would be little short of madness. Be mine, then, at once.”

“I dare not.”

“But suppose, what is by no means impossible, nay, rather likely to happen, that he should determine to fix himself in Mexico, or Lima, or some other South American city, as foreign partner of the house?”

“I cannot believe such an event possible, but if it should–” she turned away her head.

“Do I interpret your silence right, Julia? would you indeed be mine? speak to me, Julia.” She made no other answer than a sigh, but still kept her head averted. By this time they had reached the house.

As soon as they were seated in the drawing-room, the lover again urged her to “make signal of his hope;”–she raised her eyes, swimming in tears, in which an affirmative was plainly to be read. The entrance of a servant prevented the happy lover from proceeding to extremities upon her lips, “according to the statute in such case made and provided;” and a very excellent statute it is too. Whether the “quashing of proceedings” by the inopportune appearance of the servant was agreeable to either party, I leave to wiser heads than mine to determine.

Many very well-meaning people, who pass for men of sense in every other respect, are apt, when they feel matrimonially inclined, to think it indispensably necessary to court the old folks, “hammer and tongs,” as the vulgar saying is, in the first place, and, having obtained their good graces, to proceed very leisurely in their approaches to the young lady. This may be a very prudent mode of managing matters, for aught I know, but to me it savors rather of cold-blooded calculation, than ardent or even passably warm affection. It is, besides, a gross and unpardonable insult to the said young lady, whom it places immediately upon a level with a horse, a pig, a cow, a load of hay, a chest of drawers, or any other article of trade. It is like a man-of-war going in to engage an enemy’s battery, and heaving to, to “blaze away” at two old dismantled hulks that are lying high and dry at the harbor’s mouth.