“At the fashionable boarding-school of Madame Finesse, and I can assure you no expense has been spared in her education.” “I dare say not: these new-fangled establishments for the manufacture of man-traps, don’t usually spare expense. How old is your intended wife?” “Just nineteen.” “Where has she lived since she left school, for I suppose she was ‘_finished_,’ as they style it, some years since?” “She has resided lately at the Astor House, under the protection of a relative who boards there.” “Then she cannot know much about housekeeping.” “I dare say not,” replied Charles, with a slight feeling of vexation, “but all that knowledge comes by practice, uncle.” “If her time has been divided between a boarding school and a hotel, where is she to learn any thing about it?” “Oh, women seem to have an intuitive knowledge of such things.” “You are mistaken, boy,” said the old man, “if a girl has been brought up in a good home, and sees a regular system of housekeeping constantly pursued, she will become unconsciously familiar with its details, even though she may not then put such knowledge in practice; the consequence will be that when she is the mistress of a house, her memory will assist her judgment—a quality, by the way, not too common in girls of nineteen. But how is a poor thing who has seen nothing but the _skimble-skamble_ of a school-household or the clockwork regularity of a great hotel, to know any of the machinery by which the comfort of a home is obtained and secured?” “Oh I am not afraid to trust to Laura,” replied Charles with animation, “she is young, good-tempered, and, I believe, loves me; so I have every security for the future. When there’s a will there’s always a way.” “True, true, Charles, and I only hope your wife may have the will to find the right way; what is her fortune?” “Reports vary respecting the amount—some say eighty, others, one hundred thousand dollars.” “Don’t _you know_ any thing about it?” “I know that her fortune is very considerable, especially for a poor devil like me, who can barely clear two thousand a year by business,” answered Charles, with some irritation. “When your father married, Charles, he was master of only three hundred dollars in the world.” “That may be, and the consequence was that my father’s son has been obliged to work like a dog all his life.” “The very best thing that could have happened to you, my dear boy.” “How do you make that out? For my part, I see nothing very desirable in poverty.”