coming up, her mother, glad in her turn to
throw the responsibility on him, said,

"Well, ask your father; see what he says."

"What is it, Pauline?" said Mr. Grey, smiling assent before she had
spoken.

"May I not, papa, attend the bridal parties with the rest of the
bridemaids," she said, half pouting. "Cecelia says it will spoil the
bridal cotillion if I am absent; and then--oh, papa, I must," she
continued, in a tone of such earnest entreaty, entreaty that seemed to
admit of no refusal, that he smiled as he said,

"Well, if you _must_, I suppose you must."

"Then I may, papa!" she exclaimed, her dark eyes dilating in their
peculiar way when any thing particularly delighted or excited her.
"Now, mamma!" turning triumphantly to her mother, "papa says I may.
Yes, Mrs. Livingston, mamma _will_ come, and I too--hey, mamma!" and
Mrs. Grey smiled her assent--and she and Pauline were in for the rest
of the wedding gayeties.

_Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute._ Party followed party, and
Mrs. Grey forgot to ask, or Pauline to care, whether they were bridal
parties or not, for Pauline was fairly launched. And what a sensation
she excited--so young--so brilliant--so beautiful. Mr. Grey, too, a
man of handsome fortune, and Pauline an only daughter. There's a sort
of charm in that, too, to young men's imaginations. It seems to make a
girl more like a rare exotic, something of which there are few of the
kind. And Pauline was a belle of the most decided stamp; and Mr. and
Mrs. Grey's heads were more turned than was hers by the admiration she
excited.

CHAPTER II.

People may talk about young girls' heads being turned, but for my
part, I think there are no heads so easily turned as old ones.
Vanity, when it is fresh, like wine, is not as strong and intoxicating
as when it grows old.

Pauline enjoyed her triumphs like a girl, in all the effervescence of
youthful spirits, thinking less of her beauty and more of her pleasure
than her mother, who sat and followed her with her eyes, watching
every movement, and absorbed almost to the exclusion of every other
perception, in the surpassing loveliness of her daughter, and the
admiration that flashed from every eye that turned upon her. And let
not wise ones say that this was folly, and Mrs. Grey a weak woman for
yielding to it, for it is human nature, which is too strong to be
ruled by saws, be they ever so wise. The heart will spring to beauty,
be it where it may, and