"
"That is so," agreed MacShaughnassy. "I propose that we collect feminine
opinion upon this point. I will write to my aunt and obtain from her the
old lady's view. You," he said, turning to me, "can put the case to your
wife, and get the young lady's ideal. Let Brown write to his sister at
Newnham, and find out whom the intellectual maiden favours, while Jephson
can learn from Miss Medbury what is most attractive to the common-sensed
girl."
This plan we had adopted, and the result was now under consideration.
MacShaughnassy opened the proceedings by reading his aunt's letter. Wrote
the old lady:
"I think, if I were you, my dear boy, I should choose a soldier. You
know your poor grandfather, who ran away to America with that _wicked_
Mrs. Featherly, the banker's wife, was a soldier, and so was your poor
cousin Robert, who lost eight thousand pounds at Monte Carlo. I have
always felt singularly drawn towards soldiers, even as a girl; though
your poor dear uncle could not bear them. You will find many
allusions to soldiers and men of war in the Old Testament (see Jer.
xlviii. 14). Of course one does not like to think of their fighting
and killing each other, but then they do not seem to do that sort of
thing nowadays."
"So much for the old lady," said MacShaughnassy, as he folded up the
letter and returned it to his pocket.
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