baize carpet on the perron, and a butler bowing in the doorway with two
footmen behind him, he coughed down his exordium, and led his daughter
into the hall amid showers of rice and confetti. The bridegroom
followed; and so did the wedding-guests, since no one opposed them.

The hall and staircase were decorated with palms and pot-plants, flags
and emblems of Illyria; and in the great drawing-room--which they
entered while John persuaded the King to a seat--they found many rows of
morocco-covered chairs, a miniature stage with a drop representing the
play-scene in _Hamlet_, a row of footlights, a boudoir-grand piano, and
a man seated at the keyboard whom they recognised as a performer in much
demand at suburban dances.

The company had scarcely seated itself, before a strange light began to
illuminate that end of the room at which the stage stood, and
immediately the curtain rose to the overture of M. Offenbach's _Orphee
aux Enfers_, the pianist continuing with great spirit until a round of
applause greeted the entrance of the two spectral performers.

Its effect upon them was in the highest degree disconcerting. They set
down the coffin, and, after a brief and hurried conference in an
undertone, the black-mustachioed ghost advanced to the footlights,
singled out John from the audience, and with a terrific scowl demanded
to know the reason of this extraordinary gathering.

"Come, come, my dear sir," answered John, "our contract, if you will
study it, allows me to invite whom I choose; it merely insists that my
bride and I must be present, as you see we are. Pray go on with your
part, and assure yourself it is no use to try the high horse with me."