ant, and polite, Mr. McDonogh
proved for some time invulnerable to even the charms of Creole beauty.
At last there were indications that a young Orleanoise of fortune equal
to his own, and of personal charms that were the theme of general praise
and admiration, had captured the obdurate Croesus. This young damsel
was then emerging into sweet sixteen. She was the toast and heiress of
the city. Her name and family were among the oldest in the French and
Spanish colonies. Her father was the venerable Senor Don Pedro
Almonastre, an old official under the Spanish government, who, by
prudent investments, accumulated a large property in the very centre of
New-Orleans. He it was who donated the ground on which the Cathedral of
St. Louis now stands. It is for the rest of his soul that mass is
offered up and the bells are tolled every Sunday afternoon in this
venerable temple.

The daughter and only child of Almonastre--her maiden name we
forget--was born in the Colony, of a French Creole mother. She had
attained the age of sixteen about the year 1811. It was then that Mr.
McDonogh's propositions for an alliance were favorably considered, and
all the arrangements were made for the betrothal of the parties.
Suddenly, however, a new actor appeared on the stage, who overturned
this well-arranged scheme. There resided in the city a grim, austere,
and wealthy man, who had served in the French and Spanish armies, who
was noted no less for his ferocity and pride--which had been displayed
in several sanguinary duels--than for his wealth. He had an only son, a
handsome, graceful, and fascinating young man, who, at the suggestion of
his father, and perhaps at the prompting of his own heart, stepped
forward to lay his claims at the feet of the lovely heiress of
Almonastre. Fortunately for the cause of humanity, as will appear
hereafter, though unfortunately for the American merchant, the young
Frenchman supplanted him in the regard of the fair Creole.

The alliance of two such wealthy families as the Pontalbas and
Almonastres, was a great event in the city, and it was duly celebrated
by many brilliant festivities, at the close of which the happy couple
departed for Paris, accompanied by the father of the young man.
Purchasing a splendid hotel in the Faubourg St. Germain, the Pontalbas
gave themselves up to all the fashionable dissipations of that gay city.
The younger Pontalba was appointed by Napoleon one of his pages, with
the title of