64 JESSIE'S. ACQUAINTANCE MADE.

you known Fanny, you would never have loved
me. I am no more to be compared to her, than
the moon to the sun. She was nineteen when she
died ; I was then twelve. She,” said she, pointing
to the old woman, “had much more reason to love
Fanny than me. She was much handsomer than
me, and was so witty and merry! Ill as she was,
it never cast her down; and her laugh! Oh, I
remember it now! I never heard a laugh like it—
80 sweet, so joyous, so musical! My father used to
say that her laugh would make her fortune; but
she took cold one night at the theatre, and in three
days she died! They think of making another
Fanny of me,” said she; “ but it will not do. My
father is disappointed in me. I am not as brilliant
as my sister. My life is not happy—not at all
happy,” said she, clasping her hands, and bursting
into a passion of tears.

“Adorable girl!” said Williams, quite beside
himself with love and pity, and throwing himself
on one knee before her. ‘“ My whole life shall be
devoted to making your life happy !”

The fair Jessie bowed her face, and wept upon
his shoulder,

“ Hey-day !” said the old woman, starting up from
her chair, “ what nonsense is all this! I know what
it means when men talk of life-long devotion, And
what are you, young man? Can you rescue her
from the life of misery that lies before her ?”

““T am one who love her better than life,” said
Williams, starting to his feet, and facing the old
woman with quite a theatrical air. ‘I love her,
and, were I but free, I would marry her to-morrow.”

“Fine talking!” said the old woman, with a