little paragraph for the county paper to this effect:--"Marriage in High
Life. We understand that Ensign Stubbs, of the North Bungay Fencibles,
and son of Thomas Stubbs, of Sloffemsquiggle, Esquire, is about to lead
to the hymeneal altar the lovely and accomplished daughter of Solomon
Crutty, Esquire, of the same place. A fortune of twenty thousand pounds
is, we hear, the lady's portion. 'None but the brave deserve the fair.'"

*****

"Have you informed your relatives, my beloved?" said I to Magdalen, one
day after sending the above notice; "will any of them attend at your
marriage?"

"Uncle Sam will, I dare say," said Miss Crutty, "dear mamma's brother."

"And who WAS your dear mamma?" said I: for Miss Crutty's respected
parent had been long since dead, and I never heard her name mentioned in
the family.

Magdalen blushed, and cast down her eyes to the ground. "Mamma was a
foreigner," at last she said.

"And of what country?"

"A German. Papa married her when she was very young:--she was not of a
very good family," said Miss Crutty, hesitating.

"And what care I for family, my love!" said I, tenderly kissing the
knuckles of the hand which I held. "She must have been an angel who gave
birth to you."