ching to sadness, come over her brow.
How proud she was of her son! She looked upon him with a glance that
would have been idolatry, had not God said, "Thou shalt not make unto
thyself idols, for I am a jealous God."

She took my hand, and I saw her eye follow the soft tracery of
pearl-flowers that enwreathed neck, arms, and brow. She knew who had
thus adorned me, and her approving smile sanctioned the gifts.

"I rejoice to see you look so well, my dear child," she said, "I feared
you might lose the enjoyment of the evening; but I see no one who has a
brighter prospect before them now."

She introduced me to the friends who surrounded her, and wished to give
me a seat near her; but Ernest resisted the movement, and with a smiling
bow passed on.

"I am not disposed to release you quite so soon," said he, passing out
into the piazza. "I see very plainly that if I relinquish my position it
will not be easy to secure it again. I am delighted. I am charmed,
Gabriella, to see that you have the firmness to resist, as well as the
sensibility to feel. I am delighted, too, to see you in the only livery
youth and innocence should wear in a festal scene like this. I abhor the
gaudy tinselry which loads the devotees of fashion, indicative of false
tastes and false principles; but white and pearls remind me of every
thing pure and holy in nature. In the Bible we read of the white robes
of angels and saints. Who ever dreamed of clothing them, in imagination,
in dark or party-colored garments? In mythology, the graces, the nymphs,
and the muses are represented in snowy garments. In spotless white the
bride is led to the marriage shrine, and in white she is prepared for
the last sublime espousals. Do you know," added he, suddenly changing
the theme, as if conscious he was touching upon something too solemn,
"why I selected the scarlet geranium for one of the blossoms of your
bouquet? The first time I saw you, it glowed in the darkness of your
hair like coral in the ocean's heart."

While he was speaking he broke a sprig from the bouquet and placed it in
a wave of my hair, behind the band of pearls.

"Earth and ocean bring you their tribute," said he, and "heaven too," he
added; for as we passed by the pillars, a moon-beam glided in and laid
its silver touch on my brow.

"It is Edith's hand that thus adorned me," I answered, unwilling he
should believe I had been consulting my own ambitious taste. "Had I been
left to myself, I sh