Silverton than he had told his mother, and then asking what his friend
would do were the case his own.

Fond of fun and frolic, Mark laughed immoderately at Wilford's
description of Aunt Betsy bringing her "herrin' bone" patchwork into the
parlor, and telling him it was a part of Katy's "settin' out," but when
it came to her hint for an invitation to visit in New York, the amused
young man roared with laughter, wishing so much that he might live to
see the day when poor Aunt Betsy Barlow stood ringing for admittance at
No. ---- Fifth Avenue.

"Wouldn't it be rich, though, the meeting between your Aunt Betsy and
Juno?" and the tears fairly poured down the young man's face.

But Wilford was too serious for trifling, and after his merriment had
subsided, Mark talked with him candidly, sensibly, of Katy Lennox, whose
cause he warmly espoused, telling Wilford that he was far too sensitive
with regard to family and position.

"You are a good fellow on the whole, but too outrageously proud," he
said. "Of course this Aunt Betsy in her pongee, whatever that may be,
and the uncle in his shirt sleeves, and this mother whom you describe as
weak and ambitious, are objections which you would rather should not
exist; but if you love the girl, take her, family and all. Not that you
are to transport the whole colony of Barlows to New York," he added, as
he saw Wilford's look of horror, "but make up your mind to endure what
cannot be helped, resting yourself upon the fact that your position is
such as cannot well be affected by any marriage you might make, provided
the wife were right."