om the peril he might, standing alone, have
tempted.

A month later, and cards of invitation were received from Mr. and Mrs.
Spencer Birtwell. This was to be among the notable entertainments of
the season. Mr. Birtwell was a wealthy banker who, like other men, had
his weaknesses, one of which was a love of notoriety and display. He
had a showy house and attractive equipages, and managed to get his name
frequently chronicled in the newspapers, now as the leader in some
public enterprise or charity, now as the possessor of some rare work of
art, and now as the princely capitalists whose ability and sagacity had
lifted him from obscurity to the proud position he occupied. He built
himself a palace for a residence, and when it was completed and
furnished issued tickets of admission, that the public might see in
what splendor he was going to live. Of course the newspapers described
everything with a minuteness of detail and a freedom of remark that
made some modest and sensitive people fancy that Mr. Birtwell must be
exceedingly annoyed. But he experienced no such feeling. Praise of any
kind was pleasant to his ears; you could not give him too much, nor was
he over-nice as to the quality. He lived in the eyes of his
fellow-citizens, and in all his walk and conversation, he looked to
their good opinion.

Such was Mr. Birtwell, at whose house a grand entertainment was to be
given. Among the large number of invited guests were included Mr. and
Mrs. Ridley. But it so happened that Mrs. Ridley could not go. A few
days before the evening on which this party was to be given a new-born
babe had been laid on her bosom.

"Good-night, dear, and God bless you!" Mr. Ridley had said, in a voice
that was very tender, as he stooped over and kissed his wife. No wonder
that all the light went out of her face the moment she was alone, nor
that a shadow fell quickly over it, nor that from beneath the fringes
of her shut eyelids tears crept slowly and rested upon her cheeks. If
her husband had left her for the battlefield, she could not have felt a
more dreadful impression of danger, nor have been oppressed by a more
terrible fear for his safety. No wonder that her nurse, coming into the
chamber a few minutes after Mr. Ridley went out, found her in a nervous
chill.

The spacious and elegant drawing-rooms of Mr. and Mrs. Birtwell were
crowded with the elite of the city, and the heart of the former swelled
with pride as he received his guests