gns
of distinction marked by the finger of God, who is wiser far than
D'Hozier.[A] I cannot, however, forget that this race of nobles, so
cruelly persecuted thirty years ago, so often trampled on in our own
times, was the glory and the power of France. I was forced with pain to
see with what incessant malignity this race, though stripped of its
ancient power, was attacked. I have often said that in sapping the
foundations of the aristocratic edifice, that in crushing the legitimacy
of the nobles, an attack was made on the legitimacy of monarchy. The
revolution just over has but too well justified my apprehensions. This
revolution which by a species of criminal conversion, selects one of the
old royal blood to occupy the throne of the exile, which selects the one
nearest the throne, is perhaps but the first of a series of convulsions,
in which will be engulfed, by ambition and pride, the wisdom and
experience of the past."

[Footnote A: A genealogist of great repute in France, twenty years
since.]

This conversation between the uncle and nephew was interrupted by the
sound of a horse's hoofs, dragging a sleigh rapidly toward the door of
the house.

"That is beyond doubt my future son-in-law," said M. de Vermondans,
"another philosopher, who, like yourself, does not in every respect agree
with you. He is, however, a good fellow, who under a by no means
aristocratic exterior conceals the noblest qualities."

When she heard the sleigh, Alete ran to the door sill; and Ebba followed
him. At the appearance of the two sisters, like a rose and a lily, the
young man hastened to divest himself of the thick fur which enwrapped
him, sprang from the sleigh, and hastened to his betrothed. He had not,
however, remembered the caprice of Alete, who, instead of giving him her
hand as usual, looked sternly at him, and said:

"Sir, you are incorrigible. How comes that waistcoat to be buttoned
wrong? And why has that cravat wings, like those of a crow? Why does your
shirt-collar come up to your ears? Is this the fruit of the lessons on
the toilette, which I have so often given you? Did I not also order you
to attend to your hair, and not let it fall on your shoulder, like two
bundles of flax, in disorder? You do not know that we have here a cousin
from Paris, who will take you for a Goth, or the Lord knows what."

The poor young man, stupefied at this reception, looked down
mechanically, with his hand on his waistcoat and his crav