He fell in love with a very nice, pretty girl, just home from school and they were engaged with the full consent of all concerned; but Janet Gray's father thought her too young to be married just yet, so they had a long and very happy engagement. And then, Fred being twenty-seven and Janet twenty, the day was fixed for their marriage, and all the pleasant bustle of looking for a suitable house was going on, when one day, as Fred, Janet, and Mrs. Gray were inspecting the twenty-third house, all three very busy and happy, the messenger from the brewery came running up the terrace, and told Fred to hurry home, as his father was very ill. Before the young man reached home, his father was dead; in fact, he was dead when the messenger was sent, though no one could believe it. Mrs. Rayburn was sincerely sorry. The life had been very pleasant to her, and she felt that even if she found another husband she would never like him as well. Just, too, as she was about to be rid of Fred and his flute, and free to set about the task of convincing her husband that at least half his savings ought in justice to be left to her. But she was very practical, and quickly turned her mind to consider how she could best secure her own well-being. At first she tried to convince Fred that he ought to give up all idea of being married for a considerable time; but poor Fred, who sorely missed his kind old father, longed for Janet's companionship, and would not hear of a long delay. Mrs. Rayburn felt that in a small suburban house, with a clerk's salary and a very tiny private income, there would be no home for her! So she set herself with the kindest zeal to persuade Messrs. Hopper and Mason to put Fred into his father's place. Now, it so happened that there was a young Mr. Hopper just home from Germany, who rather wished to fill that post himself, being fond of work, and thinking that the business might be very much increased by more enterprising ways. But, of course, the son of one of the principals could not live in the Gatehouse, and do all the plodding work of the manager. So the matter ended in Fred's being appointed manager, on the understanding that Mr. Francis Hopper was to be in a very special manner his chief and leader. For the months that intervened between Mr. Rayburn's death and Fred's marriage, the widow kept house for her stepson, and made herself so pleasant to all parties that Janet told her lover that they ought to ask her to stay as long as she liked. So she stayed, and every one was delighted with the nice tact with which she helped the inexperienced young wife. Oh, she was a wonderful woman!