only under the condition that love runs smooth, and here it was
extremely rough. The suitor was of ancient family and poor, the lady was
charming, and wilful--and an heiress? You are all waiting to hear me say
that--no, she was poor, too. And so you see that a doubling of
impecuniosity was quite impossible, for poverty rolls up fast in a
geometrical progression. But the lovers had no such scruples. It's a
romantic story enough if I could tell it to you in detail."

"And why not?" cried Katie, whose interest was making him wish that
were possible.

"I should have to go back for generations, and tell you of family feuds
as old as the families themselves, a Montague and Capulet state of
affairs, although each family had so much respect for the golden
amenities of life that its possession by the other would have softened
the asperity of feeling. But each was poor,--poor, I mean, for people in
that station.

"The lady, as I said, was a beauty; the gentleman had extra will enough
when it was roused to make up for the absence of beauty, although,
indeed, the lady was not lacking in that quality either, and so,
opposition made them only more determined to have their own way. It was
impossible to run away,--she was too well guarded; defiance was the only
thing, and I must confess that from what I knew of them both, I think
they enjoyed it. The Capulets, as I will call them, were dissenters, the
Montagues belonged to the Established Church. Now, the Capulets were
very zealous, and at this time a famous itinerant preacher came into
their neighborhood. They, being the greatest people in the place,
invited him to stay at their house during his visit. He often preached
in the open air. One day, at the end of one of those eloquent