he performed very satisfactorily, with his "right hand hind leg" in the

air. All were affected--even Laura--but hers was an affection of the

stomach. The country-bred girl had not suspected that the little whining

ten-ounce black and tan reptile, clad in a red embroidered pigmy blanket

and reposing in Mrs. Oreille's lap all through the visit was the

individual whose sufferings had been stirring the dormant generosities of

her nature. She said:

"Poor little creature! You might have lost him!"

Mrs. O.--"O pray don't mention it, Miss Hawkins--it gives me such a

turn!"

Laura--"And Hildebrand and Percy--are they-are they like this one?"

Mrs. G.--"No, Hilly has considerable Skye blood in him, I believe."

Mrs. H.--"Percy's the same, only he is two months and ten days older and

has his ears cropped. His father, Martin Farquhar Tupper, was sickly,

and died young, but he was the sweetest disposition.--His mother had

heart disease but was very gentle and resigned, and a wonderful ratter."

-[** As impossible and exasperating as this conversation may sound to a

person who is not an idiot, it is scarcely in any respect an exaggeration

of one which one of us actually listened to in an American drawing room

-otherwise we could not venture to put such a chapter into a book which,

professes to deal with social possibilities.--THE AUTHORS.]

The Gilded Age