deacon. "They don't send Florence to
school, but keep three tutors for her at home. She is very accomplished,
but rather wilful and proud, they say."

"The effect of over-indulgence, perhaps," said the colonel, rising.

"Will you not honor us with another call?" asked Mrs. Allen.

"With pleasure," answered he, bowing a graceful good-morning to his
delighted entertainers.

CHAPTER IX.

"A vestal priestess, proudly pure
But of a meek and quiet spirit;
With soul all dauntless to endure
And mood so calm that naught can stir it,
Save when a thought most deeply thrilling
Her eyes with gentlest tears is filling,
Which seem with her true words to start
From the deep fountain of her heart."

The fine parlors of Mr. Leroy Edson's tasteful mansion were brilliantly
illuminated. Warm fires glowed in the shining marble grates. Dim argand
lamps bathed in soft light the rich furniture, carved cornices, and rare
statuary which decorated the mantels. The elite of Wimbledon were
assembling, and young Mrs. Edson moved lightly to and fro, receiving her
numerous guests with graceful self-possession, and welcoming them to her
home and heart with warm, earnest cordiality. They were nearly all
strangers to her, as she had been but a few months installed mistress of
Mr. Edson's splendid mansion; but she felt they were the people among
whom she was henceforth to live and find her associates and friends. She
had made one call, only, since her arrival in Wimbledon, and that on Col.
Malcome's family, who were later comers than herself.

Louise Edson was graceful, brilliant, beautiful. O, what a wealth of
thought and intellect was hers; what a broad, generous nature; what
lightning-like perceptions, quick, far-seeing judgment, sparkling humor
and sarcastic wit! She floated in a sea of exuberant life and beauty,
which was fed continually from the exhaustless fountains of her own
thought-wealthy soul. Her calm, clear eyes mirrored the bright fancies
that flitted through her brain. The chestnut hair, brushed away from the
youthful brow, revealed the tiny blue veins on the white expanding
temples; while the high, straight nose and curved nostrils, with the
sweet little mouth and tapering chin that smiled below, made up a face
whose regular features were its least claim to beauty. It was the