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“I think I will accompany you all the way, Ellie,”
said Mr. Sansoucy, as they took their way along the slippery,
and snow covered streets, “the lady who presented
me with the dress I have given to you—I have deceived
you slightly in the matter, but have few compunctions—
is a particular friend of mine, and I like her very much.”

“Then I am sure she is good and kind, sir,” said Ellie,
with her simple and sincere look. “I do not think you
would like her, if she was not.”

“Why so, my little friend?”

“Because you are so good, sir.”

“There you are beginning to flatter me again.”

“Oh, no, sir—the flattery of a poor child like me would
be a very trifling thing. Indeed, indeed, sir! you have
been so kind and good to us, and I can't help saying how
grateful I am.”

“Pshaw! you amuse me. You are such a little hop
o' my thumb. How old are you?”

“Eleven, sir.”

“That was just the age of—well, of Aurelia—when we
parted.”

“Of who, sir?”

“Aurelia: the lady we are going to see.”

“Is her name Aurelia?”

“Yes.”

“It is a very pretty name.”

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“So it is—and I think you will say that the face of
the lady who bears it is not disagreeable.”

“Oh, I am sure of it, sir. She is kind, I know!”

“Very kind—but also very gay.”

“I like to see gay people,” said Ellie, smiling, “it looks
as if they were happy and thankful, and loved God.”

“I wish some of my friends could hear you say that:
they would put you down immediately as a little heretic.”

“How so?” asked Ellie, wonderingly; “I know what
a heretic is—”

“They say Christians ought not to be gay.”

Ellie shook her head.

“I don't think that is right, sir,” she said; “I suppose
it is better not to be too light and thoughtless, but God
does not forbid our being happy and cheerful, because we
are Christians. I think it ought to make us happier than
ever, for this is the only sort of happiness which cannot
be taken away from us”

“Yes.”

“I think happiness is the absence of anxiety and care
and pain—a sort of peace of the heart, and you know
what the Bible says—“the peace of God which passes all
understanding.' He would not speak of it in that way—
I believe it was Paul—if he had not felt that he could not
describe it, or explain it.”

“You are right, Ellie, and you are a thousand times
happy to possess so warm and living a faith. I envy you,
and long for it. When you pray, Ellie, ask God to give
me this peace—will you?” said Mr. Sansoucy, sadly.

“Oh, yes, sir! But I do every day. I pray for all my

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friends, and all I love; and you cannot think I leave you
out. Oh, no, sir!”

Sansoucy has since told us, that the look which went
with these words, was that of a guardian angel; so full
of purity and love and goodness did it shine on him.

“Ah, Ellie,” he said, “it was some such one as you
that a great poet thought of when he said:


`Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers,
Whose loves in higher love endure—
What souls possess themselves so pure,
Or is their happiness like theirs!'
It was an English poet, called Tennyson, who is, however,
not equal to Lord Byron—I am told. Now let us hasten
on. The day seems to grow colder and colder.”

They traversed the glittering streets thereafter in silence:
and after a while reached Mr. Ashton's comfortable
house.

“You are very punctual!” said Aurelia, who ran forward,
laughing, and holding out her hand, “and is that
your little friend?”

“Yes, my dear Miss Cinderella,” said Sansoucy, smiling,
“and she is come to get your every-day dress, before you
went to the ball in your fairy chariot and costume.”

“What a satirical way you have; you know it was just
the contrary—for my every-day dress is much better than
my ball costume. Witness my elegant morning wrapper!”

And smiling gaily, Miss Aurelia smoothed the folds of
her handsome morning dress. Indeed, she looked like a
princess, although that dress was simple. Her auburn

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curls, shaken around her rosy cheeks, were as bright as
sunlight, and her blue eyes danced with health and pleasure.

“Very well,” said Mr. Sansoucy, “go and get Ellie's
dress—”

“Oh, her name is Ellie!—how do you do, Ellie?” said
the young girl, frankly and kindly, holding out her white
hand, “your name is so pretty.”

“Ellie has just been admiring yours.”

“Indeed.”

“Yes; and she hazarded the observation that you must
be a very `good and kind' young lady.”

“Did she?”

“Because he said you were his friend, ma'am,” said
Ellie, tenderly. “He has been so kind to us.”

“Pshaw!” said Mr. Sansoucy, “I was in a good
humor—that was all, Miss Aurelia. I had a visit from
Mr. Heartsease, and he made me laugh!”

“Laugh?”

“Certainly; he is a most amusing fellow. Didn't you
find him so?”

“He entertained me very much at the ball.”

“Yes, when he got the dance which I wished.”

“The dance?” asked Aurelia, with a delightful expression
of inquiry.

“Yes, my dear madam. Is it possible you were not
aware that I coveted, and was about to petition for, your
lily hand in the cotillion which you danced with Mr.
Heartsease?”

“Ahem!” said Miss Aurelia, laughing, and driven into
a corner by this home question.

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“And the rooms were so warm, you said, that you
could not dance again. What an abominable disappointment!”

“You are laughing at me.”

“No, indeed; I was laughing at the ridiculous idea
which occurred to me.”

“What was that? Is it possible that ridiculous ideas
ever occur to Monsieur Sansoucy, traveller and journalist?”

“Sometimes; and the idea which struck me last night
was the absurdity of Ernest and Aurelia not being able
to secure each other for a single cotillion.”

Aurelia received the hit full in front, and colored.

“Oh, yes!” she stammered, laughing, “I have heard of
those personages!”

“Heard of them?”

“Yes, I know two intimate friends of these young
people.”

“Whom?”

“Mr. Sansoucy and Miss Ashton!”

And having thus taken her revenge, Miss Aurelia
laughed gaily, and turned to Ellie.

“What a thin dress you have, Ellie,” she said, “are
you not cold?”

“No, ma'am—this shawl is—”

“Oh! he gave it to you!”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“He seems to be a very amiable gentleman,” said
Aurelia, “and now, if you will come up stairs, Ellie, I will
give you his dress.”

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With which words Miss Aurelia ran up stairs, beckoning
Ellie to follow her. The child followed, and in a quarter
of an hour they both returned—Ellie having the dress
securely tied up in a newspaper.

“What are you doing, Monsieur?” said Aurelia to
Sansoucy, for that gentleman was seated at the piano.

“I am trying the accompaniment of this—you know I
play, or may be you don't know.”

And Mr. Sansoucy pointed, with a smile, to the open
music, which Aurelia had been playing when they entered.

“A very interesting query the song addresses to the
company generally,” continued Mr. Sansoucy. “`Where
are the friends of my youth?' What a pity that the
`cherished ones' don't ring the bell, and make a morning
call!”

Aurelia uttered quite a merry little laugh at this, and
looked more rosy and good-humored than ever.

“Or perhaps you were singing this song beneath,” said
Sansoucy, “`'Tis better to laugh than be sighing'—from
Lucrezia.”

And Mr. Sansoucy uttered something very much like
the ceremony indicated in the last word of the title.

“I do think so,” said Aurelia, “and I think of having
an opportunity of carrying out my opinion. I am going
to the fair this morning.”

“Are you?”

“Yes; and of course I shall laugh heartily at somebody.
Such ridiculous persons go to fairs sometimes.”

“That 's true—I attend them frequently.”

“Oh! you mean to force my words—”

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“By no means: I am made ridiculous, madam, by the
young ladies. To know what I want, they ask if I am
married or single, for they know I am good-humored.
And you must be aware that such a question is a terrible
thrust at a bachelor!”

“A thrust? Why?”

“Because there is always a great deal of sarcasm beneath
it. The opinion of ladies upon this point is
incredibly ill-founded. They imagine that bachelors are
the most unhappy creatures in the world.”

“Well, sir, are you not?”

“Just the contrary.”

“I do not believe it.”

“Well, I nevertheless assert it. Why, my dear Miss
Aurelia, you really cannot imagine the state of careless
happiness in which the devotees of single blessedness live.
I mean, of course, the male devotees.”

“Oh, yes, sir! Now you are laughing at old maids!”

“No, no—I have many excellent and admirable friends
among such; and, not seldom, is the purest lily left upon
its stalk, because the common roses flaunt before them—
and as often do they remain there from choice. I do not
assert that they are unhappy—but I know we bachelors
are not.”

“Poor creatures!”

“Yes, very unhappy! We are compelled to have
nothing to do with trouble, and toil, and care—we are
forced to be gay and merry—we are condemned to enjoy
the world, and cull `joy and beauty' from everything.
The fact is, we are in a dreadful state, and having no

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wives to take care of us, are absolutely compelled, in self-defence,
to be happy.”

“Pshaw! even Ellie, there, knows that this is pretence,
sir.”

“She knows nothing of the sort, my dear Miss Aurelia.
It is necessary to have your philosophical invention, to
see the `struggling sigh' under my tirade.”

“Ah, you acknowledge it, do you, sir? Well, that
satisfies me, and I will not continue the subject.”

“We will return to it at the fair. Shall I escort you?”

“If you please.”

“Having found one of the `friends of your youth,' you
know—”

“I will no longer ask where they are gone,” finished
Aurelia, laughing, and closing the piano. “I go at
twelve.”

“That is my dismissal, I suppose, for the present.”

“No, indeed: I am going up stairs to get my work.
You have my full permission to remain.”

“No, thank you—I have some business. I will return.
Come, Ellie—you stand there like a little statue, though
not like Mr. Poe's heroine, your namesake—the `agate
lamp within your hand.”'

“Strange!” said Aurelia, looking at the child: “I
must have seen Ellie somewhere.”

“Seen her?”

“Yes: her face is quite familiar. One of the common
coincidences, I suppose.

“Doubtless.”

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“You must come again to see me, Ellie—you may be
able to do something for me—I have a load of sewing.”

Ellie thanked the young girl, and followed Mr. Sansoucy,
who took his departure with a gallant bow.

“Well, my little friend,” said Mr. Sansoucy, when they
were once more in the street: “does Miss Aurelia impress
you favorably? I am anxious to have your
opinion.”

“Oh, yes sir! She is so beautiful!”

“But good?”

“I think she must be, sir—I am sure of it.”

Sansoucy shook his head.

“She is getting too light,” he said, dolefully; and she
understands too well, I am afraid, that all my flourishes
about the felicity of single life, were prepared for the
occasion. What a terrible load of falsehood we bachelors
have upon our conscience. Here I am, by no means
averse to matrimony—tired of bachelordom in a word—
and I find myself continually declaring that nothing could
force me to change my condition! In fact I know but
one person who possesses that power,” Mr. Sansoucy
said, sighing and smiling; “and it is altogether problematical
whether she will exercise it! Well, here I am,
growing despondent, as I was at the ball; an honest fellow,
like myself, has no cause to fear repulse from any
woman, it seems to me. I will go home, and light a
cigar, and lay out my campaign!”

Having arrived at this determination, Mr. Sansoucy's
countenance recovered its sunshine, and taking Ellie's
hand, he went onward gaily. After a little while he took

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the bundle, which wearied the child; and thus deprived
of his hands, was not able to bow as elegantly as usual
to his lady acquaintances. It is to be hoped, however,
that they pardoned this in consideration of the circumstances.

They reached the corner near the shooting gallery, at
last, and Mr. Sansoucy delivered up the bundle, waved
his hand in a friendly way to Captain Tarnish, who
nodded as he passed, and with a promise to the child to
come again soon, repaired to his office.

Ellie continued her way, and soon reached home.