if the blow had fallen where he had dreamed. Indeed, a fever had set in, which not only induced numberless greater vagaries than that of a colossal statue to Van Trump, during the succeeding ten days, but postponed, for a much longer time, the voyage to Italy, which our unhappy young friend had previously arranged should commence the next day but one.
Mr. Clarence Van Trump woke about the same hour, but with widely different sensations, and, to argue from his countenance, none of an unpleasant kind. He had leisurely pursued his homeward course undisturbed the previous night, and had triumphantly brought off the little perfumed handkerchief, which had so nearly proved a casus belli.
What could there have been in the retention of that trifle which had caused our young gentleman, on retiring to his chamber, to regard it with such complacency, when produced and laid upon his dressing-table? Had he feared any opposition to the laudable purpose of elevating one of the Joneses to be a Van any thing? None, certainly, from Mrs. Jones herself, who would have lost a finger rather than such a son-in-law, and was, perhaps, more open in that respect than the other ladies in the village who had marriageable daughters, judged becoming. The old sea-captain in the India trade, Mary's uncle, had paid them a short visit, too, and had expressed his bluff concurrence, but not until his sister had clearly manifested that Elkhart could never have thought of marrying her Mary; how could he, when he certainly was not a lover, and had not paid Mary a compliment, such as Mr. Van Trump was always doing, once in his whole life-time, she believed? As for Miss Columbia Simmons, let it suffice to know that she had already arranged what dress she would wear on a certain grand occasion, as likewise during the first subsequent visit to her friend's palatial mansion in the city.
The personage chiefly interested in this pleasing little drama, however, did not at first give in her acquiescence. It is true, she rode and walked with the sous-hero of this tale, and was not a little carried away by his delightfully fashionable, conversation. But was it not enough to flatter Miss Jones into a passion—meaning la grande passion—that the man who had waltzed with and made love to Count-
