“O, don’t, Maria—pray show me a little mercy; do you think, uncle was so wicked as to tell Mr. Greydon so! The truth is, young ladies had better not make such resolutions, and if they do, it is better not to express them. People cannot tell with much certainty what they will do, and what they will not, till the inducement is before them.”
I assented to Sara’s philosophy, declared I never would say any such thing, and with a kiss on her glowing cheek, I heartily congratulated her, and told how sincerely I rejoiced at her choice, and her prospect of earthly happiness.
——
CHAPTER IV.
There is to be a wedding at Uncle Waldron’s early in September, and I am to be the first bridemaid! Truly an enviable appointment. Sweet Sara Hastings will be the bride—Mr. Greydon the proud and happy bridegroom. My dear old uncle will give away his “treasure,” and with her his villa and all its elegant arrangements, as “a marriage dower.” The villa is to become the “manse,” and uncle has, of course, stipulated that he shall, through his whole natural life, be regarded as one of the indisputable fixtures of the establishment.
THE PHANTASMAGORIA
A LEGEND OF ELD.
———
BY A. J. REQUIER.