CHAPTER XVIII.
Marriage and the Joke of it.
Marriages are made in heaven--"but solely," it has been added by a cynical writer, "for export." There is nothing more remarkable in human sociology than our attitude towards the institution of marriage.

So it came home to me the other evening as I sat on a cane chair in the ill- lighted schoolroom of a small country town.

The occasion was a Penny Reading.

We had listened to the usual overture from _Zampa_, played by the lady professor and the eldest daughter of the brewer; to "Phil Blood's Leap," recited by the curate; to the violin solo by the pretty widow about whom gossip is whispered--one hopes it is not true.

Then a pale-faced gentleman, with a drooping black moustache, walked on to the platform.