put in active requisition. Day after
day her tall, thin form was seen moving to and fro the great mansion,
washing windows, polishing grates, and brightening the silver knobs and
plates of the mahogany doors. Col. Malcome, in his delight at the
approaching marriage of his son, resolved to give a large fete on the
occasion, and no pains were spared to render it the most costly and
sumptuous affair ever presented to the gaze of the people of Wimbledon.
The greatest expense was lavished upon the wedding-banquet, and the
young bride's trousseau might have vied in magnificence and profusion
with that of a royal princess.

All this display and grandeur was revolting to Florence. It humbled and
mortified her proud, independent nature to owe the expensive decoration
of her approaching bridal to the generosity of the man she was about to
marry.

Col. Malcome appeared in the most fitful spirits as the preparations
advanced toward their completion. He paced the piazzas for hours
together, with hurried, excited steps, pausing often and muttering
indistinctly to himself.

Sometimes he stood before a window in a dejected attitude, and gazed
mournfully over the intervening gardens and cottages toward the elegant
and stately mansion lately occupied by the Edsons, which stood on a
small elevation just across the river, in the midst of beautiful
grounds. Then, as he turned suddenly away, his countenance would change
from its expression of gloomy regret to one of fierceness and angry
revenge.

At length the night, whose morrow was to witness the long-expected
ceremony, drew on. Great torrents of rain were flooding the streets and
dashing dismally against the casements of the mansion which was, ere
long, to blaze in the light of the festive scene.

Still, Col. Malcome, unheeding the storm, walked the wet marbles of the
piazzas, with arms folded over his chest and head bowed, in a state of
absent, moody absorption. At length the hall-door opened, and Rufus
advanced to his father's side.

"What do you want with me?" said the colonel, turning quickly toward
him.

"Not much," returned the son. "I heard you walking here, and thought I
would join you, as there was no one in the house to keep me company."

"Where is Major Howard?"

"With his wife," answered Rufus.

"And Hannah?" continued the colonel.

"Don't mention that detestable creature!" said the young man angrily. "I
can't abide her. So she is out of my sight, I care not wh