ROMANCE AND REALITY.
"Just you get married as soon as you can," said Mrs. Olsen.
"Yes, I can't understand why it shouldn't be this very autumn," exclaimed the elder Miss Ludvigsen, who was an enthusiast for ideal love.
"Oh, yes!" cried Miss Louisa, who was certain to be one of the bridesmaids.
"But Sören says he can't afford it," answered the bride elect, somewhat timidly.
"Can't afford it!" repeated Miss Ludvigsen. "To think of a young girl using such an expression! If you're going to let your new-born love be overgrown with prosaic calculations, what will be left of the ideal halo which love alone can cast over life? That a man should be alive to these considerations I can more or less understand—it's in a way his duty; but for a sensitive, womanly heart, in the heyday of sentiment!—No, no, Marie; for heaven's sake, don't let these sordid money-questions darken your happiness."
"Oh, no!" cried Miss Louisa.
