Among the large number of invited guests were included Mr.and Mrs.Ridley.But it so happened that Mrs.Ridley could not go.

A few days before the evening on which this party was to be given a new-born babe had been laid on her bosom.
"Good-night, dear, and God bless you!" Mr.Ridley had said, in a voice that was very tender, as he stooped over and kissed his wife.

No wonder that all the light went out of her face the moment she was alone, nor that a shadow fell quickly over it, nor that from beneath the fringes of her shut eyelids tears crept slowly and rested upon her cheeks.

If her husband had left her for the battlefield, she could not have felt a more dreadful impression of danger, nor have been oppressed by a more terrible fear for his safety.

No wonder that her nurse, coming into the chamber a few minutes after Mr.Ridley went out, found her in a nervous chill.
The spacious and elegant drawing-rooms of Mr.and Mrs.Birtwell were crowded with the elite of the city, and the heart of the former swelled with pride as he received his guests and thought of their social, professional or political distinction, the lustre of which he felt to be, for the time, reflected upon himself.