participated in this liberality, and many a flask of wine
was pledged to the health of the young lieutenant. As if to make him
perfectly happy, the old Count, his uncle, was obliged to hurry forward,
and thus Frank was relieved from the constraint of the only one whose
presence could have imposed reserve.

It was in the boundless freedom of this liberty, unchecked by prudence,
unrestrained by fear of consequences, Frank's lavish nature knew
no bounds. He wrote to Vienna for horses of high price; he ordered
carriages and liveries to be sent after him. The very surprise his
extravagance excited was an incense that he gloried in. How many a
generous nature has been wrecked by stupid admiration! how many a true
heart been corrupted by the vulgarity of notoriety!

"What will the Dalton do next?----what has the fellow in his head now?"
were surmises that he never heard without delight, and stimulated him
to new efforts to create astonishment. Ireland, too, so remote from
all their knowledge,--that far-away island,--furnished many a theme for
wonder, and he repeated, with ecstasy, several of his father's stories
of their former greatness and the barbaric splendor in which they lived.
How easy is self-deception, and what a strange cheat is that a man can
practise on himself! But so was it; he actually forgot the long years of
their obscure poverty, all their hard trials and distresses, the penury
of their daily life,--everything!--and could only think of Kate in all
her splendor, and himself in every indulgence of his fancy. And yet he
loved his father and Nelly too,--loved them both dearly. He would have
given worlds that the old man could have seen him as he rode at the head
of his men. He often felt his eyes grow dim as he fancied the burst of
delight it would have caused him. And poor Nelly! how he pictured her
features glowing with admiration, and yet trembling from agitation, for
he thought of all her warnings.

It is a singular fact, that in the short interval before the tremendous
events of the last great European convulsion, the aristocratic influence
seemed at its very highest point. Never in each State of the Continent
were the claims of family more regarded, nor the sway of proud names
more submissively recognized. Like the fever-flush before death, it
deceived many who beheld it! In the eyes of his astonished comrades,
young Dalton perfectly represented this character. Rich, well born,
brave, and eccentric, his s