"Only six attendants!" whispered Josephine, as Charley appeared in the doorway. A freezing night shut her in! through it she saw but two forms--a princely figure, his Antinous head erect in proud happiness--and the hated, injured rival, to whose house, curiosity and vanity had tempted her--the bridal veil falling in soft wreaths about her;--his bride! his wife! for emulous groups flocked around them. "Oh! how could you deceive me so?" cried Anna, catching Emma, as Charley led her up. "Mr. Dana! we thought you were the bridegroom! The servant said--'Mars' Charley Dana!' Didn't she, Josephine?" The frozen lips thawed into a stiff "Yes." "Ah! how foolish in me to forget that Molly espoused the 'Dana cause!'" said Emma. "And you believed the mistress would imitate the maid's example, Miss Anna?" returned Charley. "Are you inconsolable that I am single yet?" "No! overjoyed! A change has come over my desperate spirit, since I discovered my mistake. Come Josephine! we must congratulate them." Josephine was immovable. "I never pay congratulations." "For decency's sake!" Charley heard Anna say, angrily. "Don't get into one of your surly humors to-night! Very well! stay where you are!" and she walked off with M. Villet. "That sigh--what is its interpretation?" asked Mr. Lacy, of Ida, as they were watching and enjoying the lively company, which had none of the stiffness usual to weddings. "Did I sigh? it was in thought--not in sadness, then." "So I hoped. What was the weighty reflection?" "I was running over the bridals and bridal-parties I have attended--each marking some important epoch in my history. At Mrs. Truman's--Ellen's sister--I met Lynn, and gained an insight into Charley's character." "Those were pleasant data. Carry's was next--was it not?" His chosen wife though she was, she hung her head. He had to bend to hear the faint accents. "I received a letter from you!" "You may forget that. Go on." "Mr. Read installed his new wife, and Lelia Arnold was her bridesmaid. Must I forget her also?" "As I do--yes!" an unclouded eye answering hers. "Mrs. Morris had a party in honour of her nephew's marriage; and a series of events succeeded, which occasioned me vexation and trouble; but I was not the principal actor." "And the secret of another, you are not empowered to reveal. Right! The next?" "Is this!" "Out of three of the five you have mentioned, disaster and sorrow have arisen. The proportion of joy in this woeful life is variously estimated, from two-fifths to two-thirds. So we do no violence to natural laws, in assuming this to be a white mile-stone." CHAPTER XXXIII.