dden and general burst of merriment was as
quickly forgotten in the desire to behold the bride and bridegroom, whose
station was next to that of the officer of the law. It was understood that
these parties were not actors, but that the abbaye had sought out a
couple, of corresponding rank and means, who had consented to join their
fortunes in reality on the occasion of this great jubilee, thereby lending
to it a greater appearance of that genuine joy and festivity which it was
the desire of the heads of the association to represent. Such a search had
not been made without exciting deep interest in the simple communities
which surrounded Vevey. Many requisites had been proclaimed to be
necessary in the candidates--such as beauty, modesty, merit, and the
submission of her sex, in the bride; and in her partner those qualities
which might fairly entitle him to be the repository of the happiness of a
maiden so endowed.

Many had been the speculations of the Vevaisans touching the individuals
who had been selected to perform these grave and important characters
which, for fidelity of representation, were to outdo that of Silenus
himself; but so much care had been taken by the agents of the abbaye to
conceal the names of those they had selected, that, until this moment,
when disguise was no longer possible, the public was completely in the
dark on the interesting point. It was so usual to make matches of this
kind on occasions of public rejoicing, and marriages of convenience, as
they are not unaptly termed, enter so completely into the habits of all
European communities--perhaps we might say of all old communities--that
common opinion would not have been violently outraged had it been known
that the chosen pair saw each other for the second or third time in the
procession, and that they had now presented themselves to take the nuptial
vow, as it were, at the sound of the trumpet or the beat of drum. Still,
it was more usual to consult the inclinations of the parties, since it
gave greater zest to the ceremony, and these selections of couples on
public occasions were generally supposed to have more than the common
interest of marriages, since they were believed to be the means of
uniting, through the agency of the rich and powerful, those whom poverty
or other adverse circumstances had hitherto kept asunder. Rumor spoke of
many an inexorable father who had listened to reason from the mouths of
the great, rather than balk the pu