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Grace and Mort.
�They did,� said he; �they were disposed to
turn it all into ridicule. Anne told me that
she believed I envied the bridegroom.� I should
have retorted with the remark I just made;
Anne is all the better behaved for a verbal
slap in the face. Grace is a good girl
enough; she has but one fault � her mother.
I liked her, thought her frank and kind,
not much marred by affectations. She would
check her mother, when in full career of exagge-
rative lying. The marriage will be just an
average one. Mort will call her �the Curly
One,� or some pet name, take her to the theatre,
talk exaggeration on small topics, get drunk
occasionally, and work pretty hard. He is
not a gentleman, has but a coarse nature
and can never educate a woman into loving
him beyond what the first week�s acquain-
tance inspires. You may know all about him
in two or three interviews � which is a poor com-
pliment to pay any man. I hope the girl will
be happy with all my heart, for her sake
rather than his. But albeit it sounds cruel,
I do hold firm faith in transmitted character
and all that I have been able to observe
confirms it. And I think that blood must