use seems banished by society, society makes
her the subject of many evil reports and mysterious whisperings. The
lady of the mansion, however, as if to retort upon her traducers, makes
it known that she is very popular abroad, every now and then during her
absence honoring them with mysterious clippings from foreign
journals--all setting forth the admiration her appearance called forth
at a grand reception given by the Earl and Countess of ----.

Society is made of inexorable metal, she thinks, for the prejudices of
the neighborhood have not relaxed one iota with time. That she has been
presented to kings, queens, and emperors; that she has enjoyed the
hospitalities of foreign embassies; that she has (and she makes no
little ado that she has) shone in the assemblies of prime ministers;
that she has been invited to court concerts, and been the flattered of
no end of fashionable _coteries_, serves her nothing at home. They are
events, it must be admitted, much discussed, much wondered at, much
regretted by those who wind themselves up in a robe of stern morality.
In a few instances they are lamented, lest the morals and manners of
those who make it a point to represent us abroad should reflect only the
brown side of our society.

As if with regained confidence, the man, whom we left at the door
scroll, is seen slowly ascending the broad steps. He enters the vaulted
vestibule, and having touched the great, silver bell-knob of the inner
door, stands listening to the tinkling chimes within. A pause of several
minutes, and the door swings cautiously open. There stands before him
the broad figure of a fussy servant man, wedged into a livery quite like
that worn by the servants of an English tallow-chandler, but which, it
must be said, and said to be regretted, is much in fashion with our
aristocracy, who, in consequence of its brightness, believe it the exact
style of some celebrated lord. The servant receives a card from the
visitor, and with a bow, inquires if he will wait an answer.

"I will wait the lady's pleasure--I came by appointment," returns the
man. And as the servant disappears up the hall, he takes a seat,
uninvited, upon a large settee, in carved walnut. "Something mysterious
about this whole affair!" he muses, scanning along the spacious hall,
into the conservatory of statuary and rare plants, seen opening away at
the extreme end. The high, vaulted roof; the bright, tesselated floor;
the taste with which the