CHAPTER I.
AN ASTRONOMER WITHOUT A TELESCOPE.
"After all," said Mr.Ayrton, "what is marriage ?" "Ah!" sighed Phyllis.

She knew that her father had become possessed of a phrase, and that he was anxious to flutter it before her to see how it went.

He was a connoisseur in the bric-a-brac of phrases.
"Marriage means all your eggs in one basket," said he.
"Ah!" sighed Phyllis once more.

She wondered if her father really thought that she would be comforted in her great grief by a phrase.

She did not want to know how marriage might be defined.