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 secretaries, a story was made out of it which was almost as false as it was ill-natured.  Poor Caroline was spoken of as her ladyship backward and forwards among the ladies of the legation in a manner which might have vexed her had she known anything about it; but nevertheless, all the ladies prepared their best flounces to go to the wedding.  The time would soon come when she would in truth be a ‘ladyship,’ and she might be of social use to any one of the ladies in question.

But Mr Spalding was, for the time, the most disturbed of any of the party concerned.  He was a tall, thin, clever Republican of the North, very fond of hearing himself talk, and somewhat apt to take advantage of the courtesies of conversation for the purpose of making unpardonable speeches.  As long as there was any give and take going on in the melee of words he would speak quickly and with energy, seizing his chances among others; but the moment he had established his right to the floor, as soon as he had won for himself the position of having his turn at the argument, he would dole out his words with considerable slowness, raise his hand for oratorical effect, and proceed as though Time were annihilated.  And he would go further even than this, for fearing by experience the escape of his victims, he would catch a man by