rising sun. The trees were in blossom; birds were filling the air with
delicious melody, but not a leaf stirred.

The Chapman family were up before the sun that morning, and the whole
house was astir ere Bowling Green had fairly waked up, or the din of
Broadway had broken the stillness. Chapman had spent a restless night,
and seemed sad and downcast, as if some trouble he would fain conceal
was weighing on his mind. He breakfasted alone that morning, and went to
business an hour earlier than usual, promising to return at one o'clock.
He returned, however, at twelve, and in such a state of distress as to
alarm the whole house. Indeed he entered the house more like a madman
than a philosopher, and so alarmed Bowles by the wildness of his manner
and appearance, that he proceeded in a state of great excitement to
inform his mistress. When, then, that lady entered the parlor she found
her husband stretched on the sofa, with his right hand pressing his
forehead, and apparently in a state of great distress. To her repeated
enquiries as to what produced this great distress, he would only answer
by shaking his head and giving vent to the most pitiful groans.

The lady could not fail to see that some great misfortune had overtaken
her husband--something that might blast the dream of her golden future.

"I hope, my dear, it is nothing that will interfere with the wedding
to-day?" she enquired, her face already beginning to give out signs of
alarm.

Chapman made no reply, but got quickly up from the sofa and paced the
room hurriedly, his hair tossed in to disorder, and in a state of
frenzy.

After pacing up and down the room in this manner for two or three
minutes, which seemed like hours to Mrs. Chapman, who had kept her eyes
fixed on his every movement, he approached the lady, and with a wild
stare, muttered rather than spoke: "A funeral, funeral, my dear--not a
wedding to-day." Chapman pressed his hands to his head again, and wept
like a child. "Boundless iniquity," he resumed, "fraud--deception--crime--
disgrace--folly--extravagance--disappointment--poverty. What a sham the
world is! All, all is gone! No need for a clergyman here to-day. The
sheriff will be here in an hour."

"My dear, my dear, do explain yourself, so that I may understand our
position;" Mrs. Chapman interposed, her whole system yielding to the
force of excitement. "If the trouble is only of a transient nature, we
may still give the wedding--"

"Weddin