irl, was still a lovely and
fascinating woman, and Brandon, as he gazed on her superb figure,
almost forgave her absurd ambition and her ruinous extravagance.
Still, when he glanced at his own anxious, emaciated, and careworn
features, in the splendid Versailles mirror that hung opposite, his
transitory pleasure gave way to stern and bitter feelings. He merely
nodded to his wife, and bowed coldly to her companion, a young man
attired in the height of fashion, with dark eyes and hair, and the
most superb mustache imaginable.

"Ah! my dear Meestare Brandon," said the dandy, "give me your hand. I
congratulate you on such a _bonne fortune_--such good luck as has
befallen you."

"Explain yourself, sir," said the broker.

"_Avec plaisir._ I have secured for you a box at the opera for the
whole season--and for only five hundred dollars."

The broker whistled.

"Really nothing," said Mrs. Brandon; "only think--the best troupe we
have yet had--a new _prima donna_ and a new _basso_."

"Fiddlestick!" said the matter-of-fact husband. "What does it amount
to?"

"Brandon," said the lady with a true maternal dignity, "reflect upon
the importance of the opera to the education of your daughter."

"Nonsense!" said the broker, angrily. "My daughter Julia would please
me much better if she cultivated a little common sense, and adopted
the plain, republican manners fitted to the eventualities of her
future life, instead of aping foreign fashions, and doing her best to
denationalize her character."

Monsieur Auguste Charmant shrugged his shoulders, Mrs. Brandon clasped
her hands, and the former, rising said,--

"_Au revoir_, madame, _au plaisir_, Monsieur Brandon. I will bid you
good morning, and leave you to the pleasures of a conjugal
_tete-a-tete_."

Mr. Brandon rose and paced the room to and fro for several minutes
after the departure of the Frenchman, narrowly eyed by Mrs. Brandon,
who was anticipating a "scene," and preparing to meet it. In these
contests the victory generally rested with the lady. The broker
finally opened the door, and finding the page with ear glued against
the keyhole, quietly took that young gentleman by the lobe of his left
ear, and leading him to the head of the staircase, advised him, as a
friend, to descend it as speedily as possible, before his gravitation
was assisted by the application of an extraneous power. This
accomplished, he returned to the boudoir, and locking the door, sat
down besid