stars very positive about this union, Sir?"

'"They were," says the old gentleman.

'"I'm sorry to hear it," Tom makes answer, "for it's no go, Sir."

'"No what!" cries the old gentleman.

'"Go, Sir," says Tom, fiercely. "I forbid the banns." And with
these words - which are the very words he used - he sat himself
down in a chair, and, laying his head upon the table, thought with
a secret grief of what was to come to pass on that day two months.

'Tom always said, gentlemen, that that waiting-maid was the
artfullest minx he had ever seen; and he left it in writing in this
country when he went to colonize abroad, that he was certain in his
own mind she and the Salamander had blown up the philosopher's
stone on purpose, and to cut him out of his property. I believe
Tom was in the right, gentlemen; but whether or no, she comes
forward at this point, and says, "May I speak, Sir?" and the old
gentleman answering, "Yes, you may," she goes on to say that "the
stars are no doubt quite right in every respect, but Tom is not the
man." And she says, "Don't you remember, Sir, that when the clock
struck five this afternoon, you gave Master Galileo a rap on the
head with your telescope, and told him to get out of the way?"
"Yes, I do," says the old gentleman. "Then," says the waiting-
maid, "I say he's the man, and the prophecy is fulfilled." The old
gentleman staggers at this, as if somebody had hit him a blow on
the chest, and cries, "He! why he's a boy!" Upon that, gentlemen,
the Salamander cries out that he'll be twenty-one next Lady-day;