t was a lovely sight to behold the
bride gliding along with gentle motion between the tables and the
pillars, amid the light of the flowers, overlooking the whole with a
searching glance, and then vanishing; and reappearing a moment after
above, to pass into her chamber.

"She is the loveliest, most enchanting creature I ever saw!" cried
Anderson: "our friend is indeed a happy man."

"Her very paleness," added the officer, "hightens her beauty. Her
hazel eyes only sparkle the more intensely above those white cheeks
and beneath those dark locks; and the singular, almost burning redness
of her lips gives her face a truly magical appearance."

"The air of silent melancholy that surrounds her," said Anderson,
"sheds a noble majesty over her."

The bridegroom joined them, and askt after Roderick: he had been
missing for some time, and they could not conceive what he was about.
All set off in search of him.

"He is down in the hall," said at length a young man whom they
happened to ask, "in the midst of the coachmen, footmen, and grooms,
shewing off tricks at cards, which make them stare till their wits
ache."

They walkt in, and interrupted the boisterous admiration of the
servants, without however disturbing Roderick, who quietly went on
conjuring. When he had finisht, he returned with the others into the
garden, and said: "I do it only to strengthen the fellows in their
faith: these puzzles give a hard blow to their groomships'
free-thinking inclinations, and help to make 'em true believers."

"I see," said the bridegroom, "my all-sufficing friend, among his
other talents, does not think that of a mountebank beneath his
cultivation."

"We live in strange times," replied the other; "who knows whether
mountebanks may not come to rule the roast in their turn? One ought to
despise nothing nowadays: the veriest straw of a talent may be that
which is to break the camel's back."

When the two friends found themselves alone, Emilius again turned down
the dark avenue and said: "Why am I in such a gloomy mood on this the
happiest day of my life? But I assure you, Roderick, though you will
not believe me, I am not made for moving about amid such a mob of
human beings,--for this parade of heartless courtesy,--for keeping my
attention on the _qui vive_ to every letter of the alphabet, so that
neither A nor Z may complain of being treated with disrespect,--for
making low bows to her tenth cousin, and shaking hands warmly wit