dicrous specimen of degraded
aristocracy, there were several young ladies present who were really
lovely and accomplished women. These were the personal friends of Alice;
they had come to witness her nuptials with the magnificent Chevalier.

Precisely as the clock struck eight, Duvall entered the apartment, and
saluted the company with that exquisite and gentlemanly grace for which
he was distinguished. With difficulty could the assembled guests refrain
from expressing their admiration aloud; for his appearance was
singularly grand and imposing. In his dress, not the slightest approach
to foppery could be detected; all was faultless elegance. In his dark
eyes and on his proud features an observer could read the lofty triumph
which he felt; for was not he, an unknown and perhaps penniless
adventurer, about to wed the beautiful and accomplished daughter of one
of Boston's "merchant princes"?

Soon the clergyman arrived, and Alice was summoned to take her part in
the solemn ceremony which was about to be performed. She was dressed in
simple white, her only ornaments consisting of a few natural flowers
among the rich clusters of her shining hair.

She was very beautiful; the flush of happiness suffused her cheeks--her
eyes sparkled with ineffable joy. Oh, terrible sacrifice!

The ceremony proceeds; the solemn words are spoken. 'Tis all
over--friends crowd around with their congratulations--there are smiles,
and blushes, and tears; but a deep sense of happiness pervades every
heart. Alice is the wife of Duvall, by the sacred rites of the church,
in the sight of Heaven, and before men. The Chevalier pressed her madly
to his heart, while

"Unto the ground she cast her modest eye,
And, ever and anon, with rosy red,
The bashful blush her snowy cheeks did dye."

Then came music, and the merry dance--and finally, a repast, that
rivalled in luxury the banquet of an emperor. In the midst of the
supper, in obedience to the secret signal of one of her bridesmaids,
Alice stole away, and was conducted by a charming _coterie_ of her
female friends, to Hymen's sacred retreat, the nuptial chamber--which
nothing should induce us to invade, gentle reader, were it not necessary
to do so in order to develop a scene in our narrative, which cannot
possibly be omitted.

It was an apartment of but moderate size; yet it was a gem of luxurious
comfort. Everything was in the most perfect taste; and it was evident by
a certain ref