a waltz, accompanied by the light tripping of feet.

With an urbane bow, and a familiar smile, Madame opens the door,
watches with an air of exultation the effect her
sumptuously-furnished parlors, and her more sumptuously-dressed
worshippers, have on our feelings. The great glare of Gothic
windows; the massive curtains of orange-colored satin that, veiled
with lace, pend in undulating folds over them; the cloudlike canopy
that overhangs a dias at the further end of the parlor; the
gorgeously-carved piano, with keys of pearl, that stands in dumb
show beneath the drapery; the curiously-carved eagles, in gilt, that
perch over each window, and hold daintily in their beaks the
amber-colored drapery; the chastely-designed tapestry of
sumptuously-carved lounges, and reclines, and ottomans, and
patrician chairs, and lute tabs, arranged with exact taste here and
there about the great parlor; the massive centre and side-tables,
richly inlaid with pearl and Mosaic; the antique vases interspersed
along the sides, between the windows, and contrasting curiously with
the undulating curtains, looped alternately with goddesses of
liberty, in gilt; the jetting lights from a great chandelier,
blending with prismatic reflections; and the gaudy gossamers in
which weary and blanched-faced females flaunt, more undressed than
dressed-all mingle in one blaze of barbaric splendor.

It is here your child of ignorance and neglect is fascinated and
made to drink the first cup of death; it is here your faltering
sister falls; it is here your betrayed daughter seeks revenge; it is
here your forlorn, outcast sufferer first feels the world her enemy,
has no sympathizing sister to stretch out the hand of encouragement,
and sinks hopeless in the agony of her meditations. It is here,