ley Cheston. She saw from the significant looks that pass-made for her. When she had tried it on the preceding eveed between the Montagues, that the unseasonable earliness of this visit did not arise from their ignorance of the customs of American society, but from premeditated impertinence. And she regretted still more having invited them, when Mr. Montague, with impudent familiarity, walked up to the cake (which she had nicely cut into slices without altering its form) and took one of them out." Miss Martin," said he, "your cake looks so inviting that I cannot refrain from helping myself to a piece. Mrs. Montague give me leave to present one to you. Miss Montague will you try a slice?" They sat down on the sofa, each with a piece of cake, and Albina saw that they could scarcely refrain from laughing openly, not only at her dishabille, but at her disconcerted countenance. Just at this moment Drusa appeared at the door, and called ont, Miss Albinar, the presarved squinches are all working. Missus found 'em so when she opened the jar." Albina could bear no more, but hastily darting out of the room, she run up stairs, almost crying with vexation. Old Mrs. Quimby was loud in her invectives against Mr. Montague for spoiling the symmetry of the cake, and helping himself and his family so unceremoniously. "You may rely upon it," said she, "a man that will do such a thing in a strange house is no gentleman." On the contrary," observed Mrs. Marsden, "I have no doubt that in England these free and easy proceedings are high ton. Albina, have not you read some such things in Vivian Gray?" "I do not believe," said Mrs. Quimby," that if this Englishman was in his own country, he would dare to go and take other people's cake, without leave or license. But he thinks any sort of behaviour good enough for the Yankees, as they call us." "I care not for the cake," said Albina. "although the pieces must now be put into baskets. I only think of the Montagues walking in without knocking, and catching me in complete dishabille: after I had kept poor Bromley Cheston waiting half an hour this morning rather than he should see me in my pink gingham gown, and with my hair in pins." As sure as sixpence," remarked Mrs. Quimby, "this last shame has come upon you as a punishment for your pride to your own cousin." Mrs. Marsden having gone into the adjoining room to dress, Albina remained in this, and placed herself before the glass for the same purpose. Heigho!" said she, "how pale and jaded I look. What a fatiguing day I have had! I have been on my feet since five o'clock this morning, and I feel now more fit to go to bed, than to add to my weariness, by the task of dressing, and then playing the agreeable for four or five hours. I begin to think that parties (at least such parties as are now in vogue) should only be given by persons who have large houses, large purses, conveniences of every description, and servants enough to do all that is necessary." "Albina is talking quite sensibly," said aunt Quimby to Mrs. Marsden, who came in to see if her daughter required her assistance in dressing. "Pho," said Mrs. Marsden, "think of the eclat of giving a party to Mrs. Washington Potts, and of having the Montagues among the guests. We shall find the advantages of it when we visit the city again." "Albina," said aunt Quimby, "now we are about dressing, just quit for a few moments, and help me on with my long stays, and my new black silk gown, and let me have the glass awhile; I am going to wear my lace cap with the white satin riband. This dark calico gown and plain muslin cap won't do at all to sit here in, before all the ladies that are coming up." Oh! no matter," replied Albina, who was unwilling to relinquish the glass, or to occupy any of her time by assisting her aunt in dressing, (which was always a troublesome and tedious business with the old lady) and her mother had now gone down to be ready for the reception of the company, and to pay her compliments to the Montagues. "Oh! no matter," said Albina, your present dress looks perfectly well, and the ladies will be too much engaged with themselves and their own dresses to remark any thing else. No one will observe whether your gown is calico or silk, and whether your cap is muslin or lace. Elderly ladies are always privileged to wear what is most convenient to them." Albina put on the new dress that the mantua-maker had ning. Miss Matson declared that " it fitted like wax." She now found that it was scarcely possible to get it on at all, and that one side of the forebody was larger than the other. Miss Matson was called up, and by dint of the pulling. stretching, and smoothing, well known to mantua-makers, and still more by means of her pertinacious assurances that the dress had no fault whatever, Albina was obliged to acknowledge that she could wear it, and the redundancy of the large side was pinned down and pinned over. In sticking in her comb she broke it in half, and it was long before she could arrange her hair to her satisfaction without it.Before she had completed her toilette, several of the ladies arrived and came into the room, and Albina was obliged to snatch up her paraphernalia and make her escape into the next apartment. At last she was drest-she went down stairs. The company arrived fast, and the party began. Bromley Cheston had come early to assist in doing the honours, and as he led Albina to a seat, he saw that in spite of her smiles she looked weary and out of spirits, and he pitied her. "After all," thought he, "there is much that is interesting about Albina Marsden." The party was very select, consisting of the elite of the village and its neighbourhood; but still, as is often the case, those whose presence was most desirable had sent excuses, and those who were not wanted had taken care to come. And Miss Boreham, (a young lady who having nothing else to recommend her, had been invited solely on account of the usual elegance of her attire, and whose dress was expected to add prodigiously ot the effect of the rooms,) came most unaccountably in an old faded frock of last year's fashion, with her hair quite plain, and tucked behind her ears with two side-combs. Could she have had a suspicion of the reason for which she was generally invited, and have therefore perversely determined on a reaction? The Montagues sat together in a corner, putting up their eye-glasses at every one that entered the room, and criticising the company in loud whispers to each other; poor Mrs. Marsden endeavouring to catch opportunities of paying her court to them. About nine o'clock, appeared an immense cap of blond lace, gauze riband, and flowers, and under the cap was Mrs. Washington Potts, a little, thin, trifling looking woman, with a whitish freckled face, small sharp features, and flaxen hair. She leaned on the arm of Mr. Washington Potts, who was nothing in company or any where else; and she led by the hand a little boy in a suit of scarlet, braided and frogged with blue: a pale rat-looking child, whose name she pronounced Laughy-yet, meaning La Fayette; and who being the youngest scion of the house of Potts, always went to parties with his mother, because he would not stay at home. Bromley Cheston, on being introduced to Mrs. Washington Potts, was surprised at the insignificance of her figure and face. He had imagined her tall in stature, large in feature, loud in voice, and, in short, the very counterpart to Mrs. Montague. He found her, however, as he had supposed, replete with vanity, pride, ignorance and folly: to which she added a sickening affectation of sweetness and amiability, and a flimsy pretension to extraordinary powers of conversation, founded on a confused assemblage of incorrect and superficial ideas, which she mistook for a general knowledge of every thing in the world. Mrs. Potts was delighted with the handsome face and figure, and the very genteel appearance of the young lieutenant, and she bestowed upon him a large portion of her talk. "I hear, sir," said she, "you have been in the Mediterranean Sea. A sweet pretty place is it not?" Its shores," replied Cheston, "are certainly very beautiful." Yes, I should admire its chalky cliffs vastly," resumed Mrs. Potts, "they are quite poetical you know. Pray, sir, which do you prefer, Byron or Bonaparte. I doat upon Byron; and considering what sweet verses he wrote, 'tis a pity he was a corsair, and a vampyre pirate, and all such horrid things. As for Bonaparte, I never could endure him after I found that he had cut off poor old King George's head. Now, when we talk of great men, my husband is altogether for Washington. I laugh, and tell Mr. Potts it is because he and Washington are namesakes. How do you like La Fayette," (pronouncing the name a la canaille.) "The man or the name?" inquired Cheston. "Oh! both to be sure. You see we have called our MRS. WASHINGTON POTTS. youngest blossom after him. Come here, La Fayette, stand forward my dear, hold up your head, and make a bow to the gentleman." "I won't," screamed La Fayette. "I'll never make a bow when you tell me." "Something of the spirit of his ancestors," said Mrs. Potts, affectedly smiling to Cheston and patting the urchin on the head. "His ancestors!" thought Cheston. "Who could they possibly have been?" "Perhaps the dear fellow may be a little, a very little spoiled," pursued Mrs. Potts." But to make a comparison in the marine line, (quite in your way, you know,) it is as natural for a mother's heart to turn to her youngest darling as it is for the needle to point out the longitude. Now we talk of longitude, have you read Cooper's last novel by the author of the Spy. It's a sweet book-Cooper is one of my pets. I saw him in dear delightful Paris. Are you musical, Mr. Cheston?-But of course you are. Our whole aristocracy is musical now. How do you like Paganini? You must have heard him in Europe. It's a very expensive thing to hear Paganini. Poor man! he is quite ghastly with his own playing. Well, as you have been in the Mediterranean, which do you prefer, the Greeks or the Poles?" "The Poles, decidedly," answered Cheston, "from what I have heard of them, and seen of the Greeks." "Well, for my part," resumed Mrs. Potts, "I confess I like the Greeks, as I have always been rather classical. They are so Grecian. Think of their beautiful statues and paintings by Rubens and Reynolds. Are you fond of paintings? At my house, in this city, I can show you some very fue ones." By what artists?" asked Cheston. 33 ror from the music stool. This much surprised Mrs. Marsden, as a musician had been brought from the city only the day before for the express purpose of tuning this very instrument. No," whispered Miss Montague, as she resumed her seat beside her mother, "I will not condescend to play before people who are incapable of understanding my style." At this juncture (to the great consternation of Mrs. Marsden and her daughter) who should make her appearance but aunt Quimby in the calico gown which Albina now regretted having persuaded her to keep on. The old lady was wrapped in a small shawl and two large ones, and her head was secured from cold by a black silk handkerchief tied over her cap and under her chin. She smiled and nodded all round to the company, and said "How do you do, good people; I hope you are all enjoying yourselves. I thought I must come down and have a peep at you. For after I had seen all the ladies take off their hoods, and had my tea, I found it pretty dull work sitting up stairs with the mantua-maker; who had no more manners than to fall asleep while I was talking." Mrs. Marsden, much discomfitted, led aunt Quimby to a chair, between two matrons who were among "the unavoidably invited," and whose pretensions to refinement were not very palpable. But the old lady had no idea of remaining stationary all the evening between Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Jackson. She wisely thought " she could see more of the party," if she frequently changed her place, and being of what is called a sociable disposition, she never hesitated to talk to any one that was near her, however high or however low. "Dear mother," said Albina in an under voice, "what can be the reason that every one in tasting the ice-cream, "Oh! by my daughter Harriet. She did them at draw-immediately sets it aside, as if it was not fit to eat. I am ing-school with theorems. They are beautiful flower- sure every thing is in it that ought to be." picces, all framed and hung up; they are almost worthy of Sir Benjamin West."* "And something more than ought to be," replied Mrs. Marsden, after trying a spoonful-"the salt that was laid round the freezer has got into the cream, (I suppose by Dixon's carelessness,) and it is not fit to eat." "And now," said Albina starting, "I will show you a far worse mortification than the failure of the ice-cream. Only look-there sits aunt Quimby between Mr. Montague and Mrs. Washington Potts." In this manner Mrs. Potts ran on till the entrance of tea, and Cheston took that opportunity of escaping from her; while she imagined him deeply imbued with admiration of her fluency, vivacity and variety of information. But in reality, he was thinking of the strange depravity of taste that is sometimes found even in intelligent minds; for in no other way could he account for Albina's predilection How in the world did she get there?" exclaimed Mrs. for Mrs. Washington Potts. And yet," thought he, "is Marsden. "I dare say she walked up, and asked them to a young and inexperienced girl more blameable for her make room for her between them. There is nothing now blindness in friendship, (or what she imagines to be friend- to be done but to pass her off as well as we can, and to ship) than an acute, sensible, talented man for his blindness make the best of her. I will manage to get as near as posin love. The master-spirits of the earth have almost pro-sible, that I may hear what she is talking about, and take verbially married women of weak intellect, and almost as an opportunity of persuading her away. proverbially the children of such marriages resemble the mother rather than the father. A just punishment for choosing so absurdly. Albina, I must know you better." The party went on, much as parties generally do, where there are four or five guests that are supposed to rank all the others. The patricians evidently despised the plebeians, and the plebeians were offended at being despised; for in no American assemblage is any real inferiority of rank ever felt or acknowledged. There was a general dullness, and a general restraint. Little was done, and little was said. La Fayette wandered about in every body's way; having been kept wide awake all the evening by two cups of strong coffee, which his mother allowed him to take because he would have them. As Mrs. Marsden approached within hearing distance, Mr. Montague was leaning across aunt Quimby, and giving Mrs. Potts an account of something that had been said or done during a splendid entertainment at Devonshire House. "Just at that moment," said he, "I was lounging into the room with Lady Augusta Fitzhenry on my arm, unquestionably the finest woman in England, and Mrs. Montague was a few steps in advance, leaning on my friend the Marquis of Elvington." "Pray, sir," said Mrs. Quimby, as you are from England, do you know any thing of Betsey Dempsey's husband." "I have not the honour of being acquainted with that person," replied Mr. Montague, after a withering stare. "Well, that's strange," pursued aunt Quimby," considering that he has been living in London at least eighteen There was always a group round the centre-table, listlessly turning over the souvenirs, albums, &c. and picking at the flowers, and La Fayette ate plumb-cake over Ches-years-or perhaps it is only seventeen, And yet I think it ton's beautiful drawings. Albina played an Italian song extremely well, but the Montagues exchanged glances at her music; and Mrs. Potts, to follow suit, hid her face behind her fan and simpered, though in truth she did not in reality know Italian from French, or a semibreve from a semiquaver. All this was a great annoyance to Cheston. At Albina's request, he led Miss Montague to the piano. She ran her fingers over the instrument as if to try it; gave a shudder, and declared it most shockingly out of tune, and then rose in hor The author takes this occasion to remark that the illustrious artist to whom so many of his countrymen erroneously give the title of Sir Benjamin West, never, in reality, had the compliment of knighthood conferred on him. He lived and died Mr. West, as is well known to all who have any acquaintance with pictures and paintings. must be near eighteen, if not quite. May be seventeen and a half. Well, it's best to be on the safe side, so I'll say seventeen. Betsey Dempsey's mother was an old schoolmate of mine. Her father kept the Black Horse Tavern. She was the only acquaintance I ever had that married an Englishman. He was a grocer, and in very good business; but he never liked America, and was always finding fault with it, and so he went home, and was to send for Betsey. But he never sent for her at all, for a very good reason; which was that he had another wife in England, as most of them have-no disparagement to you, sir." Mrs. Marsden now came up, and informed Mrs. Potts in a whisper, that the good old lady beside her, was a distant relation or rather connexion of Mr. Marsden's, and that, though a little primitive in appearance and manner, she had considerable property in bank-stock. To Mrs. Marsden's proposal that she should exchange her seat for a very pleasant one in the other room, next to her old friend Mrs. Willis, aunt Quimby replied nothing but "Thank you, I'm doing very well here." Mrs. and Miss Montague, apparently heeding no one else, had talked nearly the whole evening to each other, but loudly enough to be heard by all around them. The young lady, though dressed as a child, talked like a woman, and she and her mother were now engaged in an argument whether the flirtation of the Duke of Risingham with Lady Georgiana Melbury would end seriously or not. "To my certain knowledge," said Miss Montague. "his Grace has never yet declared himself to Lady Georgiana, or to any one else." "I'll lay you two to one," said Mrs. Montague, "that he is married to her before we return to England." "No," replied the daughter, "like all others of his sex, he delights in keeping the ladies in suspense." "What you say, Miss, is very true," said aunt Quimby, leaning in her turn across Mr. Montague, "and considering how young you are you talk very sensibly. Men certainly have a way of keeping women in suspense, and an unwillingness to answer questions even when we ask them. There's my son-in-law, Billy Fairfowl, that I live with. He married my daughter Mary eleven years ago, the 23d of last April. He's as good a man as ever breathed, and an excellent provider too. He always goes to market himself; and sometimes I can't help blaming him a little for his extravagance. But his greatest fault is his being so unsatisfactory. As far back as last March, as I was sitting at my knitting in the little front parlour, with the door open, (for it was quite warm weather for the time of year) Billy Fairfowl came home, carrying in his hand a good-sized shad; and I called out to him to ask what he gave for it, for it was the very beginning of the shad season; but he made not a word of answer; he just passed on, and left the shad in the kitchen, and then went to his store. At dinner we had the fish, and a very nice one it was; and I asked him again how much he gave for it, but he still avoided answering, and began to talk of something else; so I thought I'd let it rest awhile. A week or two after, I again asked him; so then he actually said he had forgotten all about it. And to this day I don't know the price of that shad." The Montagues looked at each other-almost laughed aloud, and drew back their chairs as far from aunt Quimby as possible. So also did Mrs. Potts. Mrs. Marsden came up in an agony of vexation, and reminded her aunt in a low voice of the risk of renewing her rheumatism by staying so long between the damp newly-papered walls. The old lady answered aloud-"Oh! you need not fear, I am well wrapped up on purpose. And indeed considering that the parlours were only papered to-day, I think the walls have dried wonderfully, (putting her hand or the paper)-1 am sure nobody could find out the damp if they were not told." "What!" exclaimed the Montagues; "only papered today starting up and testifying all that prudent fear of taking cold, so characteristic of the English. How barbarous to inveigle us into such a place"" "I thought I felt strangely chilly all the evening," said Mrs. Potts, whose fan had scarcely been at rest five mi nutes. The Montagues proposed going away immediately, and Mrs. Potts declared she was most apprehensive for poor little La Fayette. Mrs. Marsden who could not endure the idea of their departing till all the refreshments had been handed round, (the best being yet to come,) took great pains to persuade them that there was no real cause of alarm, as she had had large fires all the afternoon. They held a whispered consultation, in which they agreed to stay for the oysters and chicken salad, and Mrs. Marsden went out to send them their shawls, with one for La Fayette. By this time the secret of the newly-papered walls had spread round both rooms; the conversation now turned en tirely on colds and rheumatisms; there was much shiver ing and considerable coughing, and the demand for shawls increased. However, nobody actually went home in con yellow frocks that nobody has spoken to yet, except Brom ley Cheston. When I am ready to go I shall take French leave, as these English people call it." But aunt Quimby's idea of French leave was very different from the usual acceptation of the term; for having always heard that the French were a very polite people, she concluded that their manner of taking leave must be particularly respectful and ceremonious. Therefore, having paid her parting compliments to Mrs. Potts and the Montagues, she walked all around the room, curtseying to every body and shaking hands, and telling them she had come to take French leave. To put an end to this ridiculous scene, Bromley Cheston, who had been on assiduous duty all the evening, now came forward and taking the old lady's arm in his, offered to escort her up stairs. Aunt Quimby was much flattered by this unexpected civility from the finest looking young man in the room, and she smilingly departed with him, complimenting him on his politeness, and assuring him that he was a real gentleman; trying also to make out the degree of relationship that existed between them. "So much for Buckingham," said Cheston, as he ran down stairs, after depositing the old lady at the door of her room. "Fools of all ranks and of all ages are to me equally intolerable. I never can marry into such a family."" The party went on. "In the name of heaven, Mrs. Potts," said Mrs. Montague, "what induces you to patronize these people?" "Why, they are the only tolerable persons in the neighbourhood," answered Mrs. Potts, and very kind and obliging in their way. I really think Albina a very sweet girl, very sweet indeed: and Mrs. Marsden is rather amiable too, quite amiable. And they are so grateful for any little notice I take of them, that it is really quite affecting. Poor things! how much trouble they have given themselves in getting up this party. They look as if they had had a hard day's work; and I have no doubt they will be obliged, in consequence, to pinch themselves for months to come; for I can assure you their means are very small, very smali indeed. As to this intolerable old aunt, I never saw her before, and as there is something rather genteel about Mrs. Marsden and her daughter, rather so at least about Albina, I did not suppose they had any such relations belonging to them. I think, in future, I must confine myself entirely to the aristocracy." "We deliberated to the last moment," said Mrs. Montague, "whether we would come. But as Mr. Montague is going to write his tour when we return to England, he thinks it expedient to make some sacrifices, for the sake of seeing the varieties of American society." "Oh! these people are not in society." exclaimed Mrs. Potts eagerly. "I can assure you these Marsdens have not the slightest pretensions to society. Oh! no-I beg of you not to suppose that Mrs. Marsden and her daughter are at all in society." This conversation was overheard by Bromley Cheston, and it gave him more pain than he was willing to acknow. ledge, even to himself. At length all the refreshments had gone their rounds, and the Montagues had taken real French leave; but Mrs. Washington Potts preferred a conspicuous departure, and therefore made her adieux with a view of producing great effect. This was the signal for the company to break up, and Mrs. Marsden gladly smiled them out, while Albina could have said with Gray's Prophetess Now my weary lips I close, Leave me, leave me to repose.' But, according to Mrs. Marsden, the worst of all was the poet, the professedly eccentric Bewley Garvin Gandy, author of the World of Sorrow, Elegy on a Broken Heart, Lines on a Suppressed Sigh, Sonnet to a Hidden Tear, Stanzas to Faded Hopes, &c., &c., and who was just now engaged in a tale called The Bewildered," and an Ode to the Waning Moon, which set him to wandering about the country, and kept him out o' nights." The poet, not bePapa," said Miss Montague, "let us all take Frenching a man of this world, did not make his appearance at the leave as soon as the oysters and chicken salad have gone round." sequence. Albina now came up to aunt Quimby, (gladly perceiving that the old lady looked tired,) and proposed that she should return to her chamber, assuring her that the wait ers should be punctually sent up to her "I do not feel quite ready to go yet." replied Mrs. Quimby. "I am very well here. But you need not mind me. Go back to your company, and talk a little to those three poor girls in the party till the moment of the bustle occasioned by the exit of Mrs. Washington Potts. He then darted suddenly into the room, and looked wild. We will not insinuate that he bore any resemblance to Sandy Clark. He certainly wore no chapeau, and his coat was not in the least a la militaire, for it was a dusky brown frock. His collar was open, in the fashion attributed to Byron, and inuch affected by scribblers who are incapable of imitating the noble bard in any thing but his follies. His MRS. WASHINGTON POTTS. hair looked as if he had just been tearing it, and his eyes seemed "in a fine frenzy rolling." He was on his return from one of his moonlight rambles on the banks of the river, and his pantaloons and coat-skirt showed evident marks of having been deep among the cat-tails and splatterdocks that grew in the mud of its margin. Being a man that took no note of time, he wandered into Mrs. Marsden's house between eleven and twelve o'clock, and remained an hour after the company had gone, reclining at full length on a sofa, and discussing Barry Cornwall and Thomas Haynes Bayley, L. E. L. and Mrs. Cornwall Baron Wilson. After which he gradually became classical, and poured into the sleepy ears of Mrs. Marsden and Albina a parallel between Tibullus and Propertius, a dissertation on Alcæus another on Menander. 35 Potts, that she might be apprised of their arrival; and they found her in a spacious house, expensively and ostentati onsly furnished. After they had waited till even their patience was nearly exhausted, Mrs. Potts came down stairs to them, but there was evidently a great abatement in her affability. She seemed uneasy, looked frequently towards the door, got up several times and went to the window, and appeared fidgetty when the bell rung. At last there came in two very flaunting ladies, whom Mrs. Potts received as if she considered them people of consequence. They were not introduced to the Marsdens, who after the entrance of these new visiters sat awhile in the pitiable situation of cyphers, and then took their leave. "Strange," said Mrs. Marsden," that she did not say a word of her party." Three days after their visit, Mrs. Washington Potts left cards for Mrs. and Miss Marsden, without inquiring if they were at home. And they heard from report that her party was fixed for the week after next, and that it was expected to be very splendid, as it was to introduce her daughter, who had just quitted boarding school. The Marsdens had seen this young lady, who had spent the August holidays with her parents. She was as silly as her mother, and as Aunt Quimby had long since been asleep. But before dull as her father in the eyes of all who were not blindly Mrs. Marsden and Albina could forget themselves in "tir'd determined to think her otherwise, or who did not connature's sweet restorer," they lay awake for an hour, dis-sider it particularly expedient to uphold all of the name of cussing the fatigues and vexations of the day, and the mortifications of the evening. "After all," said Albina, "this party has cost us five times as much as it is worth, both in trouble and expense, and I really cannot tell what pleasure we have derived from it." Bromley Cheston, who had been escorting home two sets of young ladies that lived, "far as the poles asunder," passed Mrs. Marsden's house on returning to his hotel, and seeing the lights still gleaming, he went in to see what was the matter, and kindly relieved his aunt and cousin, by reminding the poet of the lateness of the hour, and "fairly carrying him off." Potts. At length they heard that the invitations were going out for Mrs. Potts's party, and that though very large it was not to be general; which meant that only one or two of the members were to be selected from each family with whom Mrs. Potts thought proper to acknowledge an acquaintance. From this moment Mrs. Marsden, who at the best of times had never really been treated with much respect by Mrs. Potts, gave up all hope of an invitation for herself; but she No one expects pleasure at their own party," replied Mrs. Marsden. But you may depend on it, this little compliment to Mrs. Washington Potts will prove highly advantageous to us hereafter. And then it is something to be the only family in the neighborhood that could pre-counted certainly on one for Albina, and every ring at the sume to do such a thing." Next morning, Bromley Cheston received a letter which required his immediate presence in New York on business of importance. When he went to take leave of his aunt and cousin, he found them busily engaged in the troublesome task of clearing away and putting in order; a task which is nearly equal to that of making the preparations for a party. They looked pale and spiritless, and Mrs. Washington Potts had just sent her three boys to spend the day with them. When Cheston took Albina's hand at parting, he felt it tremble, and her eyes looked as if they were filling with tears. After all," thought he," she is a charming girl, and has both sense and sensibility." "I am very nervous to-day," said Albina, "the party has been too much for me: and I have in prospect for to-morrow the pain of taking leave of Mrs. Washington Potts, who returns with all her family to Philadelphia." "Strange infatuation," thought Cheston, as he dropped Albina's hand, and made his parting bow. "I must see more of this girl, before I can resolve to trust my happiness to her keeping; I cannot share her heart with Mrs. Washington Potts. When I return from New York I will talk to her seriously about that ridiculous woman. and I will also remonstrate with her mother on the folly of straining every nerve in the pursuit of which she calls a certain style." In the afternoon, Mrs. Potts did Albina the honor to send for her to assist in the preparations for to-morrow's removal to town; and in the evening the three boys were all taken home sick, in consequence of having laid violent hands on the fragments of the feast; which fragments they had continued during the day to devour almost without intermission. Also Randolph had thrown Jefferson down stairs, and raised two green bumps on his forehead, and Jefferson had pinched La Fayette's fingers in the door till the blood came; not to mention various minor squabbles and hurts. At parting, Mrs. Potts went so far as to kiss Albina, and made her promise to let her know immediately whenever she or her mother came to the city. In about two weeks, Aunt Quimby finished her visitation: and the day after her departure Mrs. Marsden and Albina went to town to make their purchases for the season, and also with a view towards a party which they knew Mrs. Potts had in contemplation. This time they did not as usual stay with their relations, but they took lodgings at a fashionable boarding-house where they could receive their "great woman," comme il faut. On the morning after their arrival Mrs. Marsden and her daughter, in their most costly dresses, went to visit Mrs. door was expected to bring it. There were many rings, but no invitation, and poor Albina and her mother took turns in watching at the window. At last Bogle was seen to come up the steps with a handful of notes; and Albina, regardless of all rule, ran to the front-door herself. They were cards for a party, but not Mrs. Potts's, and were intended for two other ladies that lodged in the house. Every time that Albina went out and came home, she inquired anxiously of all the servants if no note had been left for her. Still there was none. And her mother still insisted that the note must have come, but had been mislaid afterwards, or that Bogle had lost it in the street. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday passed over, and still no invitation. Mrs. Marsden talked much of the carelessness of servants, and had no doubt of the habitual negligence of Messrs. Bogle, Shepherd, and other fashionable party-men." Albina was almost sick with "hope deferred." At last, when she came home on Monday morning from Second street, her mother met her at the door with a delighted face, and showed her the long-desired note, which had just been brought by Mrs. Potts's own man. The party was to take place in two days: and so great was now Albina's happiness, that she scarcely felt the fatigue of searching the shops for articles of attire that were very elegant and yet not too expensive; and shopping with a limited purse is certainly no trifling exercise both of mind and body; so also is the task of going round among fashionable mantua-makers, in the hope of coaxing one of them to undertake a dress at a short notice. Next morning, Mrs. Potts sent for Albina immediately after breakfast, and told her that as she knew her to be very clever at all sorts of things, she wanted her to stay that day and assist in the preparation for the next. Mrs. Potts, like many other people who live in showy houses and dress extravagantly, was very economical in servants. She gave such low wages that none would come to her who could get places any where else, and she kept them on such limited allowance that none would stay with her who were worth having. Fools are seldom consistent in their expenditure. They generally (to use a homely expression) strain at gnats and swallow camels. About noon Albina having occasion to consult Mrs. Potts concerning something that was to be done, found her in the front parlour with Mrs. and Miss Montague. After Albina had left the room, Mrs. Montague said to Mrs. Potts-"Is not that the girl that lives with her mother at the place on the river, I forget what you call it?—I mean the niece of the aunt." "That is Albina Marsden," replied Mrs. Potts. "Yes," pursued Mrs. Montague," the people that made so great an exertion to give you a sort of party, and hon. ored Mr. and Miss Montague and myself with invitations." "She's not to be here to-morrow night, I hope!" exclaimed Miss Montague. "Really," replied Mrs. Potts, "I could do no less than ask her. The poor thing did her very best to be civil to us all last summer." "Oh!" said Mrs. Montague, "in the country one is will *ing sometimes to take up with such company as we should be very sorry to acknowledge in town. You assured me that your party to-morrow night would be extremely recherchee. And as it is so early in the season, you know that it is necessary to be more particular now than at the close of the campaign, when every one is tired of parties, and unwilling to get new evening dresses lest they should be out of fashion before they are wanted again. Excuse me, I speak only from what I have heard of American customis." "I am always particular about my parties," said Mrs. Potts. A word in your ear," continued Mrs. Montague. "Is it not impolitic, or rather are you not afraid to bring forward so beautiful a girl as this Miss Martin on the very night of your own daughter's debut." Mrs. Potts looked alarmed for a moment, and then recovering herself, said-"I have no fear of Miss Harriet Angelina Potts being thrown in the shade by a little country girl like this. Albina Marsden is pretty enough, to be | sure at least, rather pretty-but then there is a certain style a certain air which she of course-in short, a certain style-" au fait in every thing, employed near an hour in manufac turing the following note to Albina. "Mrs. Washington Potts' compliments to Miss Marsden, and she regrets being under the necessity of dispensing with Miss M.'s company to join the social circle at her mansion-house this evening. Mrs. W. P. will explain hereafter, hoping Mrs. and Miss M. are both well. Mr. W. P. requests his respects to both ladies, as well as Miss Potts, and their favorite little Lafayette desires his best love." " The billet arrived while Albina had gone to her mantuamaker to have her new dress fitted on for the last time. Her mother opened the note and read it; a liberty which no parent should take with the correspondence of a grownup daughter. Mrs. Marsden was shocked at its contents, and at a loss to guess the motive of so strange an interdiction. At first her only emotion was resentment against Mrs. Potts. Then she thought of the disappointment and mortification of poor Albina, whom she pictured to herself passing a forlorn evening at home, perhaps crying in her own room. Next, she recollected the elegant new dress in which Albina would have looked so beautifully, and which would now be useless. "Oh!" soliloquized Mrs. Marsden, "what a pity this unaccountable note was not dropped and lost in the street. But then, of course some one would have found and read it, and that would have been worse than all. How could Mrs. Potts be guilty of such abominable rudeness, as to desire poor Albina not to come, after she had been invited. But great people think they may do any thing. I wish the note had fallen into the fire before it came to my hands; then Albina would have known nothing of it; she would have gone to the party, looking more charmingly than ever she did in her life; and she would be seen there, and addo no otherwise than behave to her politely in her own house. Nobody would know of this vile billet, which perhaps after all is only a joke, and Mrs. Potts would suppose that of course Albina had not received it; besides I have no doubt that Mrs. Potts will send for her to-morrow, and make a satisfactory explanation. But then, to-night, if Albina could only get there to-night. What harm can possibly arrive from my not showing her the note till to-morrow. Why should the dear girl be deprived of all the pleasure she anticipated this evening. And even if she expected no enjoyment whatever, still how great will be the advantage of having her seen at Mrs. Washington Ports's select party; it will at once get her on in the world. Of course Mrs. Potts will conclude that the note miscarried, and will treat her as if it had never been sent. I am really most strongly tempted to suppress it, and let Albina go." "As to what you call a certain style," said Mrs. Montague, "I do not know exactly what you mean. If it sig-mired, and make new acquaintances, and Mrs. Potts could nifies the air and manner of a lady, this Miss Martin has as much of it as any other American girl. To me they are all nearly alike. I cannot distinguish those minute shades of difference that you all make such a point. In my unpractised eyes the daughters of your mechanics and shopkeepers look as well and behave as well as the daughters of your lawyers and doctors, for I find your nobility is chiefly made up of the two professions, with the addition of a few merchants: and you call every one a merchant that does not sell his commodities by the single yard or the single quart." "Mamma," whispered Miss Montague, "if that girl is to be here, I don't wish to come. I can't endure her." "Take my advice." continued Mrs. Montague to Mrs. Potts, "and put off this Miss Martin. If she was not so strikingly handsome, she might pass unnoticed in the crowd. But her beauty will attract general observation, and you will be obliged to tell exactly who she is, where you picked her up, and to give or hear an account of her family and all her connexion; and from the specimen we have had in the old aunt, I doubt if they will bear a very minute scrutiny. So if she is invited, endeavor to uninvite her." "I am sure I would willingly do that," replied Mrs. Potts," but I can really think of no excuse." The more Mrs. Marsden thought of this project the less objectionable it appeared to her. When she saw Albina come home delighted with her new dress; which fitted her exactly, and when she heard her impatiently wishing that evening was come, this weak and ill-judging mother could not resolve (as she afterwards said) to dash all her pleasant anticipations to the ground, and demolish her castles in the air. "My daughter shall be happy to-night," thought she. whatever may be the event of to-morrow." She hastily concealed the note, and kept her resolution of not mentioning it to Albina. "Oh! send her a note to-morrow," answered Mrs." Montague, carelessly, and rising to depart, "any thing or nothing, so that you only signify to her that she is not to come. All day Mrs. Potts was revolving in her mind the most feasible means of preventing Albina from appearing at her party; and her conscience smote her when she saw the unsuspecting girl so indefatigable in assisting with the preparations. Before Albina went home, Mrs. Potts had come to the conclusion to follow Mrs. Montague's advice, but she shrunk from the task of telling her so in person. She determined to send her next morning, a concise note, politely requesting her not to come; and she intended afterwards to call on her and apologize, on the plea of her party being by no means general, but still so large that every inch of room was an object of importance; also that the selection consisted entirely of persons well known to each other and accustomed to meet in company, and that there was every reason to fear that her gentle and modest friend Albina would have been unable to enjoy herself among so many strangers, &c., &c. These excuses, she knew were very flimsy, but she trusted to Albina's good nature, and she thought she could smooth off all by inviting both her and her mother to a sociable tea. Next morning, Mrs. Potts who was on no occasion very ready with her pen, considering that she professed to be Evening came, and Albina's beautiful hair was arranged and decorated by a fashionable French barber. She was drest, and looked charmingly. Albina knew that Mrs. Potts had sent an invitation to the United States Hotel for Lieutenant Cheston, who was daily expected but had not yet returned from New York, and she regretted much that she could not go to the party under his escort. She knew no one else of the company. and she had no alternative but to send for a carriage and proceeded thither by herself, after her mother had despatched repeated messages to the hotel to know if Mr. Cheston had yet arrived, for he was certainly expected back that evening. As Albina drove to the house, she felt all the terrors of diffidence coming upon her, and already repented that she had ventured on this enterprise alone. On arriving, she did not go into the ladies' room, but gave her hood and cloak at once to a servant, and tremulously requested another attendant to inform Mr. Potts that a lady wished to see him. Mr. Potts accordingly came out into the hall, and looked surprised at finding Albina there, for he had heard his wife and daughter talking of the note of interdiction. But concluding, as he often did, that it was in vain for him |