were Macbeth and the foul king in the play, so is my
rival Brisket. Most worthy Grand, this chamber must hold me excused
if I decline to-night to enter upon the subject of the paper duties."
Then Robinson left the chamber, and the discussion was immediately
adjourned to that day se'nnight.

CHAPTER XIX.

GEORGE ROBINSON'S MARRIAGE.

Thus ended George Robinson's dream of love. Never again will he
attempt that phase of life. Beauty to him in future shall be a
thing on which the eye may rest with satisfaction, as it may on the
sculptor's chiselled marble, or on the varied landscape. It shall be
a thing to look at,--possibly to possess. But for the future George
Robinson's heart shall be his own. George Robinson is now wedded, and
he will admit of no second wife. On that same Tuesday which was to
have seen him made the legal master of Maryanne's charms, he vowed
to himself that Commerce should be his bride; and, as in the dead
of night he stood on the top of the hill of Ludgate, he himself, as
high-priest, performed the ceremony. "Yes," said he on that occasion,
"O goddess, here I devote myself to thy embraces, to thine and thine
only. To live for thee shall satisfy both my heart and my ambition.
If thou wilt be kind, no softer loveliness shall be desired by me.
George Robinson has never been untrue to his vows, nor shalt thou,
O my chosen one, find him so now. For thee will I labour, straining
every nerve to satisfy thy wishes. Woman shall henceforward be to me
a doll for the adornment of whose back it will be my business to sell
costly ornaments. In no other light will I regard the loveliness of
her form. O sweet Commerce, teach me thy lessons! Let me ever buy in
the cheapest market and sell in the dearest. Let me know thy hidden
ways, and if it be that I am destined for future greatness, and may
choose the path by which it shall be reached, it is not great wealth
at which I chiefly aim. Let it rather be said of me that I taught the
modern world of trade the science of advertisement."

Thus did he address his new celestial bride, and as he spoke a
passing cloud rolled itself away from before the moon's face, and
the great luminary of the night shone down upon his upturned face.
"I accept the omen," said Robinson, with lightened heart; and from
that moment his great hopes never again altogether failed him,
though he was doomed to pass through scorching fires of commercial
disappointment.

But it must not be