"You saw that young lady, my niece, Blanche Elliston, of course?"
Yes, John had seen her.
"I won't ask you what you think of her, because first impressions are sometimes very erroneous, and I don't care to hear Blanche disparaged. She is my Tom's intended."
"I beg pardon—your Tom's what?" returned John, quickly. And he may be pardoned if he thought he had heard imperfectly and incorrectly.
"Tom's intended," repeated Grigson.
"Intended wife, do you mean, Tom?" John asked so earnestly, and with such a look of gaunt surprise, that his friend broke out into a laugh; but he suddenly checked himself with—
"I don't know why I should laugh, for it is no laughing matter. Yes, Blanche Elliston is young Tom's intended wife."
"Young Tom's wife! Why, he is only a mere boy yet!" exclaimed Tincroft.
"True, John; but he will be a man some day, it is to be hoped."
"Time enough then to be choosing a wife," John had on his tongue's end to say, but a look checked him, and all he said was, "Well, but I don't understand it a bit, Tom. I always was dull of comprehension, you know, so you must bear with me, and explain a little more fully."