Agatha's Husband

Perhaps the most silent person at table was the younger brother, whose Christian name Agatha did not know. However, hearing the Major call him once or twice by an odd-sounding word, something like "Beynell" or "Ennell," she had the curiosity to inquire.

"Oh, it is N. L.--his initials; which I call him by, instead of the very ugly name his cruel godfathers and godmothers imposed upon him as a life-long martyrdom."

"What name is that?" asked Agatha, looking across at the luckless victim of nomenclature, who seemed to endure his woes with great equanimity.

He met her eye, and answered for himself, showing he had been listening to her all the time. "I am called Nathanael--it is an old family name--Nathanael Locke Harper."

"You don't look very like a Nathanael," observed his neighbour, Mrs. Thornycro