one proscribed of opinion, and educated in the retirement suited to the views of her parents, the praises that reached her ear could not but be grateful, and they went warm and cheeringly to her heart, in spite of the sense of apprehension and uneasiness that had so long harbored there.  Throughout the whole of the day, until now, she had scarce dared to turn her eyes to her future husband,—­him who, in her simple and single-minded judgment, had braved prejudice to do justice to her worth; but, as the applause, which had been hitherto suppressed, broke out in loud acclamations in the square of the town-house, the color mantled brightly on her cheek, and she looked with modest pride at her companion, as if she would say in the silent appeal, that his generous choice would not go entirely without its reward.  The crowd responded to the sentiment, and never did votaries of Hymen approach the altar seemingly under happier auspices.

The influence of innocence and beauty is universal.  Even the unprincipled and half-intoxicated prisoners were loud in praise of the gentle Christine.  One praised her modesty, another extolled her personal appearance, and all united with the multitude in shouting to her honor.  The blood of the bridegroom began to quicken, and, by the time the train had halted in the open space near the building, immediately beneath the windows occupied by Maso and his fellows, he was looking about him in the exultation of a vulgar mind, which finds its delight in, as it is apt to form its judgments from, the suffrages of others.

“Here is a grand and beautiful festa!” said the hiccoughing Pippo, “and a most willing bride San Gennaro bless thee, bella sposina, and the worthy man who is the stem of so fair a rose!  Send us wine, generous groom and happy bride, that we may drink to the health of thee and thine!”

Christine changed color, and looked furtively around, for they who lie under the weight of the world’s displeasure, though innocent, are sensitively jealous of allusions to the sore points in their histories.  The feeling communicated itself to her companion, who threw distrustful glances at the crowd, in order to ascertain if the secret of his bride’s birth were not discovered.

“A braver festa never honored an Italian corso,” continued the Neapolitan, whose head was running on his own fancies, without troubling itself about the apprehensions and wishes of others.  “A gallant array and a fair bride!  Send us wine, felicissimi sposi, that we may drink to your eternal fame and happiness!  Happy the father that calls thee daughter, bella sposa, and most honored the mother that bare so excellent a child!  Scellerati, ye of the crowd, why do ye not bear the worthy parents in your arms, that all may see and do homage to the honorable roots of so rich a branch!  Send us wine, buona gente, send us cups of merry wine!”

The cries and figurative language of Pippo attracted the attention of the multitude, who were additionally amused by the mixture of dialects in which he uttered his appeals.  The least important trifles, by giving a new direction to popular sympathies, frequently become the parents of grave events.  The crowd, which followed the train of Hymen, had begun to weary with the repetition of the same ceremonies, and it now gladly lent itself to the episode of the felicitations and entreaties of the half-intoxicated Neapolitan.