"Let me see your wedding-ring, Evelyn," I said, laughingly, to conceal
my embarrassment. She colored slightly.

"What, that little affair of a philopoena?" she rejoined. "Oh, I
promised not to take it off until certain things were accomplished, nor
to tell the name of the giver either, so don't question about it, 'an
you love me, Hal!'"

"Was it sent from beyond the seas?" I questioned, seriously, "I shall
ask nothing more."

"What an idea! No, on my honor, it was not. There! I will not tell you
another word about it, so don't bore me, Miriam. I thought you,
yourself, despised a catechist, and undue curiosity. What I came here,
to-night, for, was not to be catechised, or 'put to the question,' but
to ask a favor which you must grant, dear prophetess, whether you will
or no. Now, don't refuse your Eva," and she kissed me affectionately; "I
am going to give a grand fancy ball, or rather, _we_ are, the same thing
of course, and I want you to lay off your deep mourning for a time"
(hers had been already entirely put aside), "and appear as night. You
can still wear black, you know; I shall be Morning, and Mabel, Hesper.
Now, won't it be a lovely idea? Hesper, you know, is both morning and
evening star, and can hover between us, bearing a torch, and dressed _a
la Grecque_. Is not that appropriate--our little link of sisterhood? It
cannot fail to make an impression. I consider it, myself, a capital
idea. You can wear your mother's diamonds at last, which Mr. Bainrothe
means to hand over to you to-morrow as your birthday gift--not that,
exactly, either," seeing my rising scorn, "but as a token of respect
suitable for the occasion. He might hold on to them two years longer you
know, legally," she added, carelessly.

"He is very magnanimous," I remarked, coldly; "I shall be glad to have
my diamonds though, in my own possession, I acknowledge, but why does he
make any parade about it at all? They are mine all the same, whether in
his hands or my own. Every thing that man does seems theatrical and
affected to me!"

"I thought you were beginning to incline very favorably to Cagliostro! I
am sure this was the opinion of all who saw you together at Saratoga,
and I believe, between ourselves, it is his own."

"Evelyn Erie, you know better than this! People, of themselves, would
never have dreamed of such a thing, and he, too, knows my sentiments
thoroughly. He only feigns ignorance."

"My dear, dear girl! worse things than thi