There was a Miss Wright, a meek little girl, palish, on whom her father doted.

Wheeler talked to this girl of his friend Bassett, his virtues and his wrongs, and interested the young lady in him.

This done, he brought him to the house, and the girl, being slight and delicate, gazed with gentle but undisguised admiration on Bassett's _torso._ Wheeler had told Richard Miss Wright was to have seven thousand pounds on her wedding-day, and that excited a corresponding admiration in the athletic gentleman.
After that Bassett often called by himself, and the father encouraged the intimacy.

He was old, and wished to see his daughter married before he left her and this seemed an eligible match, though not a brilliant one; a bit of land and a good name on one side, a smart bit of money on the other.

The thing went on wheels.