it is a much sincerer compliment than the gentlemen's bombastical
praises: 'the fairest of her sex,' and so on; that none but the 'silliest
of her sex' believe."

"Miss Dodd, I never said the fairest of her sex. I said the loveliest."

"Oh, that alters the case entirely," said Julia, whose spirits were
mounting with the lights and music, and Alfred's company; "so now come
and be reconciled to the best and wisest of her sex; ay, and the
beautifullest, if you but knew her sweet, dear, darling face as I do.
There she is; let us fly."

"Mamma, here is a penitent for you, real or feigned, I don't know which."

"Real, Mrs. Dodd," said Alfred. " I had no right to disobey you and risk
a scene. You served me right by abandoning me; I feel the rebuke and its
justice. Let me hope your vengeance will go no further."

Mrs. Dodd smiled at the grandiloquence of youth, and told him he had
mistaken her character. "I saw I had acquired a generous, hot-headed
ally, who was bent on doing battle with insects; so I withdrew; but so I
should at Waterloo, or anywhere else where people put themselves in a
passion."

The band struck up again.

"Ah!" said Julia, "and I promised you this dance; but it is a waltz and
my guardian angel objects to the _valse a deux temps._"

"Decidedly. Should all the mothers in England permit their daughters to