were, however, eclipsed by the dazzling glory of a
vast pyramid of purest oreide, which at its apex separated into four
divisions to the sound of slow music, by forty hidden performers,
revealing, as it descended to the floor, an equal number of tables, on
which plate, Sevres China, Nankin porcelain, and the emerald glass of
New England, rivaled the display of damask, fruits, liqueurs, and
delicatest meats. Here smoked a sweetbread, here gleamed a porgy, not
yet forty-eight hours caught, and here the strawberry crimsoned the
cream that lapped its blushing sides. Here the Arabian berry evolved
clouds of perfume; here Curacoa glistened from behind its strawy shield;
and here a decanter of warranted real French brandy, side by side with a
bottle of Stoughton's bitters, suggested that a cocktail might not only
be desirable, but possible. But Roseton's eyes gazed languidly upon the
spectacle, and the walls of the pyramid again ascending, shut the
quadruple banquets from the sight.

A moment elapsed, and they fell once more. A fountain of cool, fragrant
distillation threw showers of delight into the atmosphere, under the
canopy of which again appeared four luxurious tables. Upon one, tea and
toast suggested the agreeable and appropriate remedy for an over-night's
dissipation; upon another, an array of marmalades, icy tongues reduced
by ether to a temperature of minus sixty, Finnane haddock, and oaten
meal of rarest bolting, indicated and offered to gratify the erratic
taste of a Caledonian. Again, upon another, a Strasburg pie displayed
its delicious brown, the members of the emerald songster of the fen lay
whitely delicate, and accompanying absinthe revealed the knowledge of
Gallic preferences. Upon the fourth, smoking and olent Rio, puddings of
Indian, cakes composed of one third butter, one third flour, one third
saleratus, and the crisping bean, surmounted by crimped pork, showed
that a Providence Yankee might well find an appropriate entertainment.
But again the eyes of Roseton looked vacantly on, and again, amid
strains of music, the walls of the pyramid ascended.

A short pause, and they sunk again. Now appeared, as a central figure,
an odalisque. In each ivory hand she bore a double fan of exquisite
workmanship, on each of which again glistened a delicate and fairy
banquet. Here were ultimate quintessences--pines reduced to a drop of
honeyed delight; bananas whose life lay in points of bewildering
sweetness; enormous