"The effect of over-indulgence, perhaps," said the colonel, rising. 

 "Will you not honor us with another call?" asked Mrs. Allen. 

 "With pleasure," answered he, bowing a graceful good-morning to his delighted entertainers. 

 CHAPTER IX. 

"A vestal priestess, proudly pure

But of a meek and quiet spirit;

With soul all dauntless to endure

And mood so calm that naught can stir it,

Save when a thought most deeply thrilling

Her eyes with gentlest tears is filling,

Which seem with her true words to start

From the deep fountain of her heart."

 

 The fine parlors of Mr. Leroy Edson's tasteful mansion were brilliantly illuminated. Warm fires glowed in the shining marble grates. Dim argand lamps bathed in soft light the rich furniture, carved cornices, and rare statuary which decorated the mantels. The élite of Wimbledon were assembling, and young Mrs. Edson moved lightly to and fro, receiving her numerous guests with graceful self-possession, and welcoming them to her home and heart with warm, earnest cordiality. They were nearly all strangers to her, as she had been but a few months installed mistress of Mr. Edson's splendid mansion; but she felt they were the people among whom she was henceforth to live and find her associates and friends. She had made one call, only, since her arrival in Wimbledon, and that on Col. Malcome's family, who were later comers than herself. 

 Louise Edson was graceful, brilliant, beautiful. O, what a wealth of thought and intellect was hers; what a broad, generous nature; what lightning-like perceptions, quick, far-seeing judgment, sparkling humor and sarcastic wit! She floated in a sea of exuberant life and beauty, which 

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