THE FAERY QUEEN. 181 



betwixt earth and heaven, when a slight noise brought us down 

 for a moment to our proper sphere ; yet hardly, for on looking 

 up we beheld, standing in the wake of a coloured sunbeam, 

 from which, on wings of gossamer, she seemed to have just 

 descended, an unexpected apparition of surpassing grace and 

 beauty. Titania's self, just stepped upon the moonlit earth, 

 could scarcely have stood poised on an unbroken flower-stalk, 

 in form more airy, in attitude more graceful, with countenance 

 more radiant than those of Emily F , as, arrayed in likeness 

 of the Faery Queen, she thus burst upon our view, and with 

 an air half archly playful, half proudly triumphant, enjoyed 

 our bewildered surprise, and received the involuntary homage 

 of our admiration. 



We saw in a moment how the matter stood ; Emily was 

 really going to the fancy ball ; and this, of the Queen of Fays, 

 was the fantastic and too bewitching costume she had chosen 

 to assume. Knowing her kind heart, and having believed 

 that its best affections had been gained by her estimable 

 husband, if not bestowed on him at first, we were vexed and 

 disappointed in our young relation, and felt it only right to 

 give, if we could, a check to her buoyant vanity, by letting her 

 feel the weight of our disapproval, shown, if not expressed. 

 " So I see, Emily," said I, in the coldest tone ; " I see, after 

 all, that you are going to this foolish ball." 



The beaming countenance of the beautiful sylph darkened 

 in a moment, like a cosmoramic landscape. " And why 



M 



