therefore almost as good as a daughter. The wives and daughters
of other ambassadors, and the other ambassadors themselves, of
course, came to the wedding; and as the palace in which Mr. Spalding
had apartments stood alone, in a garden, with a separate carriage
entrance, it seemed for all wedding purposes as though the
whole palace were his own. The English Minister came, and his
wife,--although she had never quite given over turning up her nose at
the American bride whom Mr. Glascock had chosen for himself. It was
such a pity, she said, that such a man as Mr. Glascock should marry
a young woman from Providence, Rhode Island. Who in England would
know anything of Providence, Rhode Island? And it was so expedient,
in her estimation, that a man of family should strengthen himself
by marrying a woman of family. It was so necessary, she declared,
that a man when marrying should remember that his child would have
two grandfathers, and would be called upon to account for four
great-grandfathers. Nevertheless Mr. Glascock was--Mr. Glascock;
and, let him marry whom he would, his wife would be the future Lady
Peterborough. Remembering this, the English Minister's wife gave up
the point when the thing was really settled, and benignly promised to
come to the breakfast with all the secretaries and attaches belonging
to the legation, and all the wives and daughters thereof. What may
a man not do, and do with eclat, if he be heir to a peer and have
plenty of money in his pocket?

Mr. and Mrs. Spalding were covered with glory on the occasion; and
perhaps they did not bear their glory as meekly as they should have
done. Mrs. Spalding laid herself open to some ridicule from the
British Minister's wife because of her inability to understand with
absolute clearness the condition of her niece's husband in respect to
his late and future seat in Parliament, to the fact of his being a
commoner and a nobleman at the same time, and to certain information
which was conveyed to her, surely in a most unnecessary manner, that
if Mr. Glascock were to die before his father her niece would never
become Lady Peterborough, although her niece's son, if she had
one, would be the future lord. No doubt she blundered, as was most
natural; and then the British Minister's wife made the most of the
blunders; and when once Mrs. Spalding ventured to speak of Caroline
as her ladyship, not to the British Minister's wife, but to the
sister of one of the secretarie