less for her than before;--but my pride was touched, that I should be
thus tamely set aside for one I heartily despised; and this, together
with my desire to thwart the machinations of the whole intriguing clique
arrayed against me, determined me, if feasible, to regain the favor of
Elvira, and have the ceremony performed as soon as possible. This, Ella,
I know you think, and I am ready to admit it, was wrong--very wrong;
but I make no pretensions to be other than a frail mortal, liable to all
the errors appertaining thereto; and were this is the only sin to be
laid to my charge, my conscience were far less troublesome than now.

"I determined, I say, to regain my former place in her favor or
affection--whichever you like--and, to be brief, I apparently succeeded.
The day was set for our marriage; which, for several reasons unnecessary
to be detailed, was to take place at the residence of my father; and, as
the will specified it should be with all due rejoicings, great
preparations were accordingly made, and a goodly number of guests
invited.

"At length the day came--the eventful day. Never shall I forget it; nor
with what feelings, at the appointed hour, I entered the crowded hall,
where the ceremony was to take place, with Elvira leaning tremblingly on
my arm, her features devoid of all color, and approached the spot where
the divine stood ready to unite us forever. All eyes were now fixed upon
us; and the marriage rite was begun amid that deep and almost awful
solemnity, which not unfrequently characterizes such proceedings on
peculiar occasions, when every spectator, as well as the actors
themselves, feel a secret awe steal over them, as though about to
witness a tragic, rather than a civil, performance.

"I have mentioned that Elvira trembled violently when we entered the
hall; but this trembling increased after the divine commenced the
ritual; so that when I had answered in the affirmative the solemn
question pertaining to my taking the being by my side as mine till
death, her trepidation had become so great that it was with difficulty I
could support her; and when the same interrogative was put to her, a
silence of some moments followed; and then the answer came forth, low
and trembling, but still sufficiently distinct to be generally
understood; and was, to the unbounded astonishment of all, in the
negative!"

"In the negative!" exclaimed Ella, suddenly, who had during the last few
sentences been unconsciou