"Oh, no matter," interrupted Mrs. Leare: "her father always told her just to please herself. Mr. Farquhar is an Englishman and of good family. He has his profession to keep him out of mischief, and Hermie will more than pay her own expenses. Indeed, I dare not go home without a gentleman to look after us on the passage: my nerves have been too shattered, and I never again shall trust a courier. Do let your son go back with us," she implored persuasively; and added, as she saw that he still hesitated, "Besides, what rich man in America knows how long he may be rich? 'Spend your money and enjoy yourself' has always been my motto." Thus urged, what could my father do but suppose that Mrs. Leare knew Mr. Leare's views better than he did? He no longer held out on the point of honor. In twenty-four hours Hermione and I were engaged to be married. During the voyage to New York I learned to understand her father's character, and when he met us on the wharf I was no longer afraid of him. Hermione's choice in marriage seemed to be wholly left to herself. Mr. Leare told me, when I had that formidable talk with him dreaded by all aspirants to the hand of a man's daughter, that Hermione had too much good sense, self-respect and womanliness to give herself away to a man unworthy of her. "That she can love you, sir," he said, "is sufficient recommendation." That it might be sufficient in my case I hoped with all my soul, but felt, as Hermione had expressed it early in our acquaintance, that society in America must be founded upon very different opinions than our own in regard to the relations of men and women. E.W. LATIMER. THE AUTHORS OF "FROUFROU." No doubt it will surprise some theatre-goers who are not special students of the stage to be told that the authors of _Froufrou_ are the authors also of the _Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein_ and of _La Belle Helene_, of _Carmen_ and of _Le Petit Duc_. There are a few, I know, who think that _Froufrou_ was written by the fertile and ingenious M. Victorien Sardou, and who, without thinking, credit M. Jacques Offenbach with the composition of the words as well as the music of the _Grande Duchesse_; and as for _Carmen_, is it not an _Italian_ opera, and is not the book, like the music, the work of some Italian? As a matter of fact, all these plays, unlike as they are to each other, and not only these, but many more--not a few of them fairly well known to the American play-goer--are due to the collaboration of M. Henri Meilhac and M. Ludovic Halevy.