waltzing in the daylight. The horses, having no such desires, stood with
loosened check-reins, slightly twitching their upper lips, wistful of the
tall grass which bordered the wooden sidewalk, though now and then one
would lift his head high, sniffing the morning air and bending an earnest
gaze not upon the dancers but upon the florid east.

Over the unwearied plaint of French-horn, violin, and bassoon, rose a
silvery confusion of voices and laughter and the sound of a hundred
footfalls in unison, while, from the open windows there issued a warm
breath, heavily laden with the smell of scented fans, of rich fabrics, of
dying roses, to mingle with the spicy perfume of a wild crab-tree in
fullest blossom, which stood near enough to peer into the ball-room, and,
like a brocaded belle herself, challenge the richest to show raiment as
fine, the loveliest to look as fair and joyful in the dawn..

"Believe me, of all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly to-day,
Were to fade by to-morrow and fleet from my arms,
Like fairy gifts fading away--"

So ran the violins in waltz time, so bassoon and horn to those dulcet
measures; and then, with one accord, a hundred voices joined them in the
old, sweet melody:

"Thou wouldst still be adored as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will;
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still."

And the jealous crab-tree found but one to overmatch itself in beauty: a