“Two sides to that question.  It is true, luxury might have spoiled me, for I am accessible to such influences; but, on the other hand, I should have escaped some painful things.  No one who has not been poor can understand me, can know the wounds which a sensitive man must receive as he is working his way up in the world,—­wounds that leave lasting scars, too.  I am conscious of certain feelings, most discreditable, if I were to avow them, which have been cultivated in me, and which will probably cling to me all my days.  What I have gained in hardiness I have gained as the smith gains his strength, at the expense of symmetry, sensibility, and grace.”

“Nonsense, you mimosa!  Don’t curl up your leaves before you are touched.”

“But if I am a sensitive-plant, as you say, I can’t help it; if I were a burdock, I might.”

“You’ll get over that.  By-the-by, you may as well tell Alice.  I know you will be uneasy; go, go,—­but come back soon.  It is jolly that she accepted you poor; if the report had got abroad, you might have thought she was influenced by golden reasons.”

“That’s because you don’t know her, my cynical friend.  She is incapable of mercenary motives.”

  “’What female heart can gold despise? 
  What cat’s averse to fish?’”

“Well, for an hour, good-bye.  Have a good fire and the pipes ready.”

“Yes, truly,—­and a magnum, if my closet is not empty.  The king will drink to Hamlet.”

* * * * *

Little more remains to be told.  After the long period of probation, it was not deemed necessary that the nuptials should be deferred beyond the time necessary to make due preparation.  In a month the wedding took place at Mr. Monroe’s house, Mr. Easelmann giving away the bride.  I do not say that the bachelor felt no twinges when he saw among the guests the lovely Mrs. Sandford in her becoming white robes; in fact, he “thought seriously,” as all such people do while there remains even the recollection of youth—­but his habits were too fixed.  He saw and sighed, and that was all.  However, he is on the right side of——­forty, we will call it, and there is hope for him.  We may find him in some adventure yet; if so, the reader shall assuredly know it.

In the spring, Greenleaf with his wife went abroad and took up their residence in Rome.

“What pictures has he painted?” did you ask?

Really, Madam, a great many; but I have not the least idea of letting you come at the name of my hero in this way.  You have seen them both here and in New York, and you thought them the productions of a rising man,—­as they are.

* * * * *