"And why not, pray?"

"Oh! I don't exactly know--that is, faith I scarcely thought you were in
earnest, for if I did, of course I should honestly have confessed to you
that the lady in question struck me as one of the handsomest persons I
ever met."

"You think so really, Hal?"

"Certainly I do, and the opinion is not mine alone; she is, in fact
universally admired."

"Come, Harry, excuse my bad temper. I ought to have known you better
--give me your hand, old boy, and wish me joy, for with you aiding and
abetting she is mine to-morrow morning."

I wrung his hand heartily--congratulating myself, meanwhile, how happily
I had got out of my scrape; as I now, for the first time, perceived that
Curzon was bona fide in earnest.

"So, you will stand by me, Hal," said he.

"Of course. Only show me how, and I'm perfectly at your service.
Any thing from riding postillion on the leaders to officiating as
brides-maid, and I am your man. And if you are in want of such a
functionary, I shall stand in 'loco parentis' to the lady, and give her
away with as much 'onction' and tenderness as tho' I had as many
marriageable daughters as king Priam himself. It is with me in marriage
as in duelling--I'll be any thing rather than a principal; and I have
long since disapproved of either method as a means of 'obtaining