just as Burton hoped he would, but Hannah was present, in a new
gray silk, with some old lace, and a bit of scarlet ribbon at her
throat, and her hair arranged somewhat after the fashion of the times.
This was the suggestion of Lucy Grey, who had more influence over Hannah
Jerrold than any one else in the world, and when she advised the new
silk, and the old lace, and the scarlet ribbon, Hannah assented readily,
and looked so youthful and pretty, in spite of her thirty years, that
the Rev. Mr. Sanford, who was a bachelor, and had preached in Allington
for several years, paid her marked attention, helping her to ices, and
walking with her for half an hour on the long terrace in a corner of the
park.
There was a trip to Saratoga, and Newport, and the Catskills, and then,
early in September, Burton brought his bride to the house on Beacon
street, which Geraldine at once remodeled and fitted up in a style
worthy of her means, and of the position she meant her husband to
occupy. He was a growing man, and from being clerk in a bank, soon came
to be cashier, and then president, and money and friends poured in upon
him, and Geraldine's drawing-rooms were filled with the elite of the
city. The fashionables, the scholars, the artists, and musicians, and
whoever was in any degree famous, met with favor from Mrs. Geraldine,
who liked nothing better than to fill her house with such people, and
fancy herself a second Madame De Stael, in her character as hostess. All
this was very pleasing to Burton, who, having recovered from any
sentimental feeling he might have entertained for Lucy, blessed the good
fortune which gave him Geraldine instead. He never asked himself if he
loved her; he only knew that he admired, and revered, and worshiped her
as a woman of genius and tact; that what she thought, he thought; what
she wished, he wished; and what she did he was bound to say was right,
and make others think so too. There had been a condescension on her part
when she married him, and she never let him forget it; while he, too,
mentally acknowledged it, and felt that, for it, he owed her perfect
allegiance, from which he never swerved.
CHAPTER II.
GREY JERROLD.
Just a year after the grand wedding at Grey's Park, there was born to
Burton and Geraldine a little boy, so small and frail and puny, that
much solicitude would have been felt for him had there not been a
greater anxiety for the young mother, who went so far down towa
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