as strictly proscribed for that day--was
to be arrayed in the hall, where Dalton was to preside, if possible,
with an Irish crown upon his head, supported by Nelly as the genius of
Irish music; and Zoe herself in a composite character,--half empress,
half prophetess,--a something between Sappho and the Queen of Sheba;
Martha, for the convenience of her various household cares, was to be
costumed as a Tyrolese hostess; and Purvis, in a dress of flesh-colored
web, was to represent Mercury, sent on purpose from above to deliver a
message of welcome to the arriving guests. As for the General, there was
a great doubt whether he ought to be Belisarius or Suwarrow; for, being
nearly as blind as the one and as deaf as the other, his qualifications
were about evenly balanced.

If not insensible to some of the absurdities of this notable project,
Dalton forgot the ridicule in the pleasanter occupation of the bustle,
the movement, and the tumult it occasioned. It did his heart good to see
the lavish waste and profusion that went forward. The kitchen-table, as
it lay spread with fruit, fish, and game, might have made a study for
Schneiders; and honest Peter's face glowed with delight as he surveyed a
scene so suggestive of convivial thoughts and dissipation.

"No doubt of it, Nelly," said he; "but Mother Ricketts has grand
notions! She does the thing like a princess!" The praise was so far
well bestowed that there was something royal in dispensing hospitality
without regarding the cost; while, at the same time, she never
entertained the slightest sentiment of esteem for those in whose favor
it was to be exercised. Among the very few things she feared in this
world was Haggerstone's "tongue," which she herself averred was best
conciliated by giving "occupation to his teeth." The banquet was "got
up" with that object, while it also gave a favorable opportunity of
assuming that unbounded sway in Dalton's household which should set the
question of her supremacy at rest forever.

To this end was poor Martha engaged with puff-paste and jellies and
whip-cream, with wreaths of roses and pyramids of fruit, from dawn
till dusk. To this end was Purvis nearly driven out of his mind by
endeavoring to get off by heart an address in rhyme, the very first
line of which almost carried him off in a fit of coughing,--the word
"Puffendorf" being found nearly as unmanageable to voice as it was
unsuited to verse. While poor Belisarius, stripped of rul