18
WYLDER'S HAJVD.
neither by fortune, nor by beauty, to good, merry, little
Miss Dorothy Chubley, whom nobody was supposed to be
looking after, and the town had, somehow, set down from
the first as a natural-born old maid —there was a very
general amazement; some disappointment here and there,
with customary sneers and compassion, and a good deal
of genuime amusement not ill-natured.
Miss Chubley, all the shopkeepers in the town knew
and liked, and, in a way, respected her, as "Miss Dolly."
Old Reverend John Chubley, D. D., who bad been in love
with his wife from the period of his boyhood; and yet so
grudging was Fate, had to undergo an engagement of nigh
thirty years before Hymen rewarded their constancy;
being at length made Vicar of Huddclston, and master of
church revenues to the amount of three hundred pounds a
year — had, at forty-five, married his early love, now
forty-two.
I remembered the Vicar, but more dimly than his mer-
ry little wife, though she went first. She made raisin-
wine, and those curious biscuits that tasted of Windsor
soap.
And this Mrs. William Wylder just announced by soft-
toned Larcom, is the daughter (there is no mistaking the
jolly smile and lumpy odd little features, and radiance of
amiability) of the good Doctor and Mrs. Chubley, so curi-
ously blended in her loving face. And last comes in old
Major Jackson, smiling largely, squaring himself, and do-
ing his courtesies in a florid military style, and plainly
-» pleased to find himself in good company and on the eve
of a good dinner. And so our dinner-list is full.
The party were just nine — and it is wonderful what a
row nine well-behaved people will contrive to make at a
dinner-table. The inferior animals — as we see them
caged and cared for, and fed at one o'clock, in those public