forting himself with the thought that perhaps he had secured help for Charlie at his own expense, and thinking with a droll smile as he went back to his mother,—
"My romance begins by looking after other girls' lovers instead of finding a sweetheart for myself; but I can't tell Rose, so she won't laugh at me."
CHAPTER XIII.
BOTH SIDES.
STEVE'S engagement made a great stir in the family: a pleasant one this time; for nobody objected, every thing seemed felicitous, and the course of true love ran very smoothly for the young couple, who promised to remove the only obstacle to their union by growing old and wise as soon as possible. If he had not been so genuinely happy, the little lover's airs would have been unbearable; for he patronized all mankind in general, his brother and elder cousins in particular.
"Now that is the way to manage matters," he declared, standing before the fire in Aunt Clara's billiard room a day or two after the ball, with his hands behind his back,—"no nonsense, no delay, no domes-
