“If Mr. Helmstedt will put it on.”
Philip Helmstedt slipped the ring on her finger, turned and adjusted it with a slight pressure, when Marguerite, with a half-suppressed cry, snatched away her hand and applied her handkerchief to it.
“Have I been so awkward and unhappy as to hurt you, Miss De Lancie?” inquired Mr. Helmstedt.
“Oh, no, not at all! it is nothing to speak of; a sharp flaw in the setting of the stones pierced my finger; I think that is all,” answered Marguerite, drawing off the ring that was stained with blood.
Mr. Helmstedt took the jewel, walked up to the fireplace, and threw it into the glowing coals.
“Well! if that is not the most wanton piece of destructiveness I ever saw in my life,” said Cornelia, indignantly; “you know, Marguerite, when I saw Mr. Helmstedt draw the ring and come and put it on your finger, I thought it was a happy sign; but now see how it is? everything that man touches, turns—not to gold, but to blood or tears, that he thinks only can be dried in the fire!”
“Don’t use such fearful words here on your bridal evening, dear Nellie, they are ill-omened. You are, besides, unjust to Mr. Helmstedt, I think,” said Marguerite, who had now quite recovered her composure.
“They were false diamonds after all, Miss De Lancie,” said Mr. Helmstedt, rejoining the ladies.
The bishop had retired from the room; the musicians had entered and taken their places, and were now playing a lively prelude to the quadrilles; partners were engaged, and were only waiting for the bride and groom to open the ball, as was then the custom. Nellie gave her hand to her colonel, and suffered herself to be led to the head of the set.
“Miss De Lancie, will you honor me?” inquired Mr. Helmstedt, and receiving a gracious inclination of the head in acquiescence, he conducted Marguerite to a position vis-à-vis with the bridal pair. Other couples immediately followed their example, and the dancing commenced in earnest. The lively quadrille was succeeded by the stately minuet, and that by the graceful waltz, and the time-honored and social Virginia reel. Then came an interval of repose, preceding the sumptuous supper. Then the outpouring of the whole company into the dining-room; and the eating, drinking, toasting, and jesting; then they adjourned to the saloon, when again quadrilles, minuets, reels and waltzes alternated with short-lived rest, refreshment, gossip, and flirtations, until a late hour, when the discovered disappearance of the bride and her attendants gave the usual warning for the company to break up. At the covert invitation of Colonel Compton, some of the gentlemen, who were without ladies, lingered after the departure of the other guests, and adjourned with himself and his son-in-law, to the dining-room, where, after drinking the health of the newly married pair, they took leave.