led them. Mr. Middleton
and Judge Merlin gazed upon the radiant beauty with undisguised
admiration. And Ishmael looked on with a deep, unuttered groan. How
dared he love this stately, resplendent queen? How dared he hope she
would ever deign to notice him? But the next instant he reproached
himself for the groan and the doubt--how could he have been so fooled
by a mere shimmer of satin and glitter of jewels?

Judge Merlin and Mr. Middleton were in the conventional evening dress of
gentlemen, and were quite ready to attend the ladies. They had nothing
to do, therefore, but to hand them to the carriage, which they
accordingly did. The party of four, Mr. and Mrs. Middleton, Judge
Merlin, and Claudia, drove off.

Ishmael and Beatrice remained at home. Ishmael to study his law books;
Beatrice to give the boys their supper and see that the nurses took
proper care of the children.

CHAPTER LII.

AN EVENING AT THE PRESIDENT'S.

There was a sound of revelry by night--
"Columbia's" capital had gathered then
Her beauty and her chivalry: and bright
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men.
A thousand hearts beat happily; and when
Music arose with its voluptuous swell,
Soft eyes looked love to eyes that spoke again,
And all went merry as a marriage bell.

--_Byron_.

The carriage rolled along Pennsylvania Avenue. The weather had changed
since sunset, and the evening was misty with a light, drizzling rain.
Yet still the scene was a gay, busy, and enlivening one; the gas lamps
that lighted the Avenue gleamed brightly through the rain drops like
smiles through tears; the sidewalks were filled with pedestrians, and
the middle of the street with vehicles, all going in one direction, to
the President's palace.

A decorously slow drive of fifteen minutes brought our party through
this gay scene to a gayer one at the north gate of the President's park,
where a great crowd of carriages were drawn up, waiting their turn to
drive in.

The gates were open and lighted by four tall lamps placed upon the
posts, and which illuminated the whole scene.

Judge Merlin's carriage drew up on the outskirts of this crowd of
vehicles, to wait his turn to enter; but he soon found himself enclosed
in the center of the assemblage by other carriages that had come after
his own. He had to wait full fifteen minutes before he could fall into
the procession that was slowly making its way through the right-hand
g