"Oh, my dear husband!" rejoined Adelaide, "although delighted ever to hear _your_ praise, yet when you would overstep the due and meet boundaries of discretion, and, forsooth, make of me an ideal goddess, it is meet and due time, that stepping down from the lofty pedestal whereon thou hast been graciously pleased to rear thy fond idol, for me to intrude a word or two, if it were but to dispel the charm which fascinates thee, recall thy wandering thoughts from paradise to earth, and convince thee, at least, that I am but a mere mortal; and, moreover, a woman to boot, with all a woman's faults--yea, too, my love, with all a woman's fondness, and the love that no tongue can utter; and thus I swear it upon thy beloved lips, my first, my only love!" "Oh, my adorable Adelaide," he said, while he met the fond embrace, "let this blessed moment be ever sacred in our recollection! dawning with hope and promised joy on all our future days. Oh, my Adelaide, imperishable let this happy, too happy hour remain, and ever marked and stamped by a holy communion of heart and mind! Your taste shall be mine, your liking shall be my liking, your joy be my joy, and your sorrows (if ever they come) shall be all mine own!--thy disgrace would become my disgrace, and mine would be attended with yours! But now I only look upon the happy obverse of the medal, when I pause on your beauty, your accomplishments, your virtue, and your religion! for without the latter a woman is a monster, and man little less than a demon. You must now permit me to say, that you are the theme of every tongue, the charm of every eye, the idol of every heart, and the bright ornament of every circle, that might fairly, at thy throne, 'Bid kings come bow to it!'" "Oh, my dear Bruce, you will turn my brain--no more of hyperbole!"