All of which is to render evident just how impossible a
matrimonial proposition was Samuel Benham to a bright,
a beautiful, a gay, an imaginative, young, and a witty
girl such as Abigail Prim, who cared less for money than
for almost any other desirable thing in the world.
Nagged, scolded, reproached, pestered, threatened,
Abigail had at last given a seeming assent to her step-
mother's ambition; and had forthwith been packed off
on a two weeks visit to the sister of the bride-groom
elect. After which Mr. Benham was to visit Oakdale as
a guest of the Prims, and at a dinner for which cards al-
ready had been issued--so sure was Mrs. Jonas Prim of
her position of dictator of the Prim menage--the engage-
ment was to be announced.
It was some time after dinner on the night of Abigail's
departure that Mrs. Prim, following a habit achieved by
years of housekeeping, set forth upon her rounds to see
that doors and windows were properly secured for the
night. A French window and its screen opening upon
the verandah from the library she found open. "The
house will be full of mosquitoes!" she ejaculated men-
tally as she closed them both with a bang and made them
fast. "I should just like to know who left them open.
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