Laughing loudly, the Captain drew her toward him, saying, “Why, marrying rich, you little novice. For instance, if one of these days you should be my little wife, I dare say your mother would think you had made a brilliant match!” and the well-preserved gentleman of forty glanced complacently at himself in the mirror thinking how probable it was that his youthfulness would be unimpaired for at least ten years to come! Anna laughed, for to her his words then conveyed no serious meaning, but with more than her usual quickness she replied, that “she would as soon marry her grandfather.” With Mrs. Livingstone the reader is partially acquainted. In her youth she had been pretty, and now at thirty-eight she was not without pretensions to beauty, notwithstanding her sallow complexion and sunken eyes, Her hair, which was very abundant, was bright and glossy, and her mouth, in which the dentist had done his best, would have been handsome, had it not been for a certain draw at the corners, which gave it a scornful and rather disagreeable expression. In her disposition she was overbearing and tyrannical, fond of ruling, and deeming her husband a monster of ingratitude if ever in any way he manifested a spirit of rebellion. Didn’t she marry him? and now they were married, didn’t her money support him? And wasn’t it exceedingly amiable in her always to speak of their children as _ours_! But as for the rest, ’twas _my_ house, _my_ servants, _my_ carriage, and _my_ horses. All _mine_—“Mrs. John Livingstone’s—Miss Matilda Richards that was!” Occasionally, however, her husband’s spirit was roused, and then, after a series of tears, sick-headaches, and then spasms, “Miss Matilda Richards that Was” was compelled to yield her face for many days wearing the look of a much-injured, heart-broken woman. Still her influence over him was great, else she had never so effectually weakened every tie which bound him to his native home, making him ashamed of his parents and of everything pertaining to them. When her husband first wrote, to her that his father was dead and that he had promised to take charge of his mother and ’Lena, she flew into a violent rage, which was increased ten-fold when she received his second letter, wherein he announced his intention of bringing them home in spite of her. Bursting into tears she declared “she’d leave the house before she’d have it filled up with a lot of paupers. Who did John Nichols think he was, and who did he think she was! Besides that, where was he going to put them? for there wasn’t a place for them that she knew of!” “Why, mother,” said Anna who was pleased with the prospect of a new grandmother and cousin, “Why, mother, what a story. There’s the two big chambers and bedrooms, besides the one next to Carrie’s and mine. Oh, do put them in there. It’ll be so nice to have grandma and cousin ’Lena so near me.” “Anna Livingstone!” returned the indignant lady, “Never let me hear you say grandma and cousin again.”