Alas‪!‬

Alas! is a Book of Family and Relationship. The book tells that rescued packet on the table beside her, and beginning to fan herself, "that Mr. Dashwood, the man to whom I was engaged, has chosen to marry. I am sure "--with a shrug--" no one has the least desire to deny his perfect right to do so; and this morning there arrived by post a bit of his wedding-cake! I suppose he meant it civilly; but father chose to take it as an insult to himself, and though it was addressed to me, he threw it into the fire. I am very fond of wedding-cake; so, as soon as father's back was turned, I fished it out again!" Jim laughs, with more vigour perhaps than heartfelt amusement. "Bravo, Cis! You are a real philosopher! We might all learn a lesson from you. "What have you done with your nice friend?" asked Sybilla languidly. "Amelia, dear, this couvre-pied is slipping off me again. What a sympathetic voice he has! I am sure he has been a great deal with sick people". "I left him putting on his best tie to go out calling. No, calm yourself, Cecilia, not on you; it is not your turn to-day". "Whose turn is it, then?" asks the girl, with an interest not at all blunted by the mortifying incident of the cake, which, indeed, she has begun to nibble with apparent relish. Jim hesitates a second--a second during which it strikes him with a shock that he already finds a difficulty in pronouncing Elizabeth Le Marchant's name. He manages to evade the necessity even now by a circumlocution. "I believe it is the Piazza d'Azeglio upon which that luminary is to shine". "Is he going to see that lovely creature to whom you introduced me yesterday?" cries Amelia, with good-natured enthusiasm. "I heard her telling him that she lived in the Piazza d'Azeglio. Oh, Jim, how…