"Well, Julia, how do you like poverty and love in a cottage?" asked
Belmont, entering in his bridal dress.

"Not so well, sir, as you seem to like that borrowed suit," answered
the bride, reddening with vexation.

"Very well; you shall suffer it no longer. My carriage awaits your
orders at the door."

"Your carriage, indeed!"

"Yes, dearest, it waits but for you, to bear us to Belmont Hall, my
lovely villa on the Hudson."

"And your mother?"

"I have no mother, alas! The old woman down stairs is an old servant
of the family."

"Then you've been deceiving me, Frank--how wicked!"

"It was all done with a good motive. You were not born to endure a
life of privation, but to shine the ornament of an elegant and refined
circle. I hope you will not love me the less when you learn that I am
worth nearly half a million--that's the melancholy fact, and I can't
help it."

"O Frank!" cried the beautiful girl, and hid her face in his bosom.

She presided with grace at the elegant festivities of Belmont Hall,