he
latter enjoyed, not only from the same source, but as a just
consequence of her long and steady self-denial, application, and a
proper appreciation of her duty to herself, was denied one who, in
ill-judged compliance with the customs of a society that has no other
apparent aim than the love of display, had precluded herself from
enjoyments that none but the intellectual can feel. Still Grace was
beautiful and attractive; and though she wondered where her cousin,
in general so simple and unpretending, had acquired all those stores
of thought, that, in the _abandon_ and freedom of such a fete,
escaped her in rich profusion, embellished with ready allusions and a
brilliant though chastened wit, her generous and affectionate heart
could permit her to wonder without envying. She perceived, for the
first time, on this occasion, that if Eve were indeed a Hajji, it was
not a Hajji of a common school; and, while her modesty and self-
abasement led her bitterly to regret the hours irretrievably wasted
in the frivolous levities so common to those of her sex with whom she
had been most accustomed to mingle, her sincere regret did not lessen
her admiration for one she began tenderly to love.

As for Messrs. Dodge and Bragg, they both determined, in their own
minds, that this was much the most stupid entertainment they had ever
seen on that spot, for it was entirely destitute of loud laughing,
noisy merriment, coarse witticisms, and practical jokes. To them it
appeared the height of arrogance, for any particular set of persons
to presume to come to a spot, rendered sacred by the public suffrage
in its favour, in order to indulge in these outlandish dog-in-the-
mangerisms.

Towards the close of this gay repast, and when the party were about
to yield their places to the attendants, who were ready to re-ship
the utensils, John Effingham observed--

"I trust, Mrs. Hawker, you have been-duly warned of the catastrophe-
character of this point, on which woman is said never to have been
wooed in vain. Here are Captain Truck and myself, ready at any moment
to use these carving knives, _faute des Bowies_, in order to show our
desperate devotion; and I deem it no more than prudent in you, not to
smile again this day, lest the cross-eyed readings of jealousy should
impute a wrong motive."

"Had the injunction been against laughing, sir, I might have
resisted, but smiles are far too feeble to express one's approbation,
on such a day as t