But, Amy, I mean to share the ridicule with you; I know that we shall be laughed at, but I mean to have my share of the sport. Let me see your list of subscribers. It seems to me, Amy, that you have not got the names of the wisest and best; more sinners than saints on your list. Where shall I put down my name, among the goats, or the sheep, or, as Mr. Skinner says, promiscuously as it were?"

"Oh Fanny, you are as full of mischief as ever; I did hope being married would improve you."

"That is an obsolete notion, Amy. The march of mind has discovered that matrimony is to character what the alum or some other chemical preparation which the dyers use to set their colors, is to cloth. This is the philosophical meaning of the yankee phrase, 'being fixed down, or settled in life.'"

Amy observed that while Fanny was rattling on she was preparing to put down. her name among her subscribers. She took hold of her hand gently as she said, "Keep the paper, dear, and show it to your husband. I would rather you would consult him first; he may not approve, you know.

Fanny colored slightly, and answered, — "He always lets me do as I please about such things; why should I show it to him?"

"But would he not therefore be the more pleased to have you consult him? I should be glad to know his opinion, and have his counsel. Keep the paper, dear, and send it to me when you have done with it."

Mr.

There was a short silence; then a little more chat, and the cousins parted. Roberts returned from his walk with that indescribable glow of health and spirits which nothing but exercise in the open air can give. It was just the dinner hour; but Fanny had been looking for him for some minutes.

"Well, my dear Fanny," he said, "have you kept your word, and been very happy all this morning?"

"Yes, "she replied, "I have been unusually happy; my friend Amy has been with me; I always enjoy her society." As she said this, she rang the bell and ordered the dinner to be brought in. There was an emphasis on the words "unusually," and "always," which grated a little on her husband's feelings; but he made an effort to forget it, and said, with rather a forced laugh,—"I trust you will not carry your revenge so far as to be sorry I have returned."

"Wives," said Fanny, "must always be glad to see their lords and masters, come when they may."

Mr. Roberts made no reply; the tone of his spirits fell even below their usual level. He was silent and dull during dinner, and immediately after, took the newspaper. Fanny's heart was troubled; she was conscious that she had given her husband pain; but she tried to persuade herself that he was too sensitive, instead of frankly confessing that she had done wrong. Roberts was too proud to say he was hurt at her manner. Presently Fanny remembered the subscription paper for Amy's school.

"If," said she, "you could lay aside your paper one moment, I have something I want to speak of with you. There is a little charitable project of Amy's, which I should be glad to assist her in, if you approve of it."

Fanny meant to say just the right thing; but there was an overstrained respect in her tone, a precision of manner that her husband felt was disagreeable, and her effort failed to restore him to a cheerful state of mind.

"I will attend to it," he replied, "as soon as I have finished reading these debates in congress."

Fanny now thought that she was the aggrieved party, and, drawing a long sigh, she took up a book, and was soon apparently absorbed in its contents. Mr. Roberts finished what he was reading, and, looking up, saw his young, beautiful and lovely wife with an expression of sadness in her face. He thought he was foolish to have noticed such a trifle, and that after all it was only Fanny's way; then he thought of his want of courtesy in not attending to what she had to say to him, and at last he came to the conclusion that after all he alone was to blame. He seated himself by the side of Fanny in the sofa, and said to her in the most affectionate tone, "I fear, my dear wife, that I was not very civil to you; I am sorry if I gave you pain; but you hurt me a little by your tone and manner of speaking to me when I returned from my walk."

"What did I say?" replied Fanny, "I am unconscious of having done any wrong.

"It was but a trifle," replied her husband, and he repeated what she said, and tried to imitate her tone.

Fanny denied it. "My heart," she said, "would have forbidden my speaking in such a way to you." Her husband was not con

vinced, but he could not bear any further contention.

Perhaps I was mistaken," he said; "let

it pass. me?”

What did you want to speak of with

Fanny brought the paper, and told him of Amy's school; but her husband's mind was otherwise occupied.

"Do just as you please, my dear; I dare say if Amy and you approve of it, it is a good thing."

Fanny put down her name for what sum she thought proper, and this trifle as they thought it, was apparently forgotten. In the course of the evening Fanny sent the paper to Amy, and wrote on the envelope, "Mr. Roberts entirely approves of your school. I enclose you my subscription."

Amy was much pleased at the liberal aid and cordial approbation of her friends in her favorite plan. She found many others willing to assist her with their money, or in any other way that she should point out. She discovered that there were not many people who held her father's opinions upon the subject of the education of the poor: here and there she met with a loyal conservative of the barbarous times which he represented, stand