but mine. I could not speak; exquisite emotion
forbade it.

No one came on board; but the minister with that catish name got into
the boat, and then some of the committee, which skimmed itself again,
and thickened up its cream considerably.

There we waited and waited.

They came back at last. That young gentleman was not the great Grand
Duke. He wasn't coming till next day.

Oh, how we wilted! Some of us almost burst out a-crying. I did not
speak; I could not. Ever since we reached the lower bay, I had felt
dreadfully discouraged; now a strange sinking of the heart seized upon
me--a faint dizziness, an agony of disappointment seemed raging in my
stomach. Oh, my sisters! these exquisite sensibilities are a proof of
greatness, I know, but the sufferings they bring, no human being but the
creature of genius can tell.

I am better. The glorious sight which followed that stormy day has
relieved me. I have seen ten thousand flags blazing along Broadway--I
have seen three times ten thousand republican worshippers waving their
hats and handkerchiefs in acclamations for the son of an imperial
despot. I have heard the glorious music of an imperial serenade--I have
seen HIM.

XI.

THE GRAND DUKE.

Sisters:--I have seen him. This hand has been pressed--significantly
pressed--by the soft, rosy palm of imperial royalty. If a tablet to my
memory should ever be sunk in the walls of our meeting-house, I charge
you, dear sisters in the cause, to have this honor cut in Roman capitals
deep into the marble; for what is an exaltation to me is glory to the
Society, and, in fact, to all Vermont.

I have been on the same steamboat with the great Grand Duke; his
splendid blue eyes have looked into mine, and in that glance we grappled
each other, soul to soul. He has smiled upon me through the yellow glory
of that silky mustache, under which his plump, red lips shone like
cherries, ripe enough to swallow, stones and all. He speaks English;
reveres genius, and knows that it can never grow old.

I saw him in Broadway, when all the New York militia turned out, which
was a training day worth looking at. A snow-storm of handkerchiefs
burst out of the windows; ten thousand female hands waved him forward.
Shouts rose from the multitude; little children were crowded back into
the gutters; women were jammed together on doorsteps and curbstones. In
fact, the skim milk of society was compelled to flow in awful narrow
channels, while