. He is only somewhat agitated;
he is extremely sensitive, and deep study has doubtless operated to the
injury of his nervous system. My dear Brother Sinclair, we are waiting
for you to perform the ceremony,' he added, in a louder tone.

'Waiting--ceremony--' said the rector, abstractedly, gazing upward at
the ceiling--'Oh, marriage ceremony, you mean? Ah, yes, I had forgotten.
Certainly. Quite right, Brother Hedge, or Ditch--ha, ha! Excuse me. All
ready.'

We shall not attempt to imitate the rector, in his manner of performing
the ceremony, as we deem the matter to be too serious for jest; but we
will say, never before was ceremony performed in so strange a manner.
However, to all intents and purposes, they were married; and at the
conclusion of the service, the bridegroom slipped a fifty-dollar note
into the rector's hand, and then conducted his lovely bride to the
carriage, in which they were soon driven to Mr. Hedge's residence in
Hudson street.

In explanation of the singular conduct of Dr. Sinclair, we will state
that he became a wine-bibber and a drunkard. Remorse for his amorous
follies with Josephine, and horror at her crimes, had driven him to
drown such painful remembrances in the bottle. The very next day after
he had accused the mother and daughter of the murder, he drank himself
into a state of intoxication, and each subsequent day witnessed a
renewal of the folly. On the Sabbath, he managed to preserve a
tolerably decent degree of sobriety, but his appearance plainly
indicated a recent debauch, and his style of preaching was tame and
irregular. His congregation viewed him with suspicion and distrust
privately; but as yet, no public charge had been made against him. He
knew very well that he could not long continue in his own unworthy
course, and be a minister of the gospel; he plainly saw the precipice
over which he hung--but with mad infatuation he heeded not the danger,
and rushed onwards to his ruin. His house became the scene of disorder
and revelry. His servants neglected their duties when he so far forgot
himself as to make them familiar associates of his orgies. The voice of
prayer was no longer heard in his dwelling: the Bible was cast aside.
Blasphemy had supplanted the one and obscene books had taken the place
of the other. We shall see how rapid was his downfall, and to what a
state of degradation he sunk at last.

But we return for the present to Mr. Hedge and his newly-made wife. They
al