66 THE FLORAL TELEGRAPH. 
the ladies, that the lapse of memory 
happened not from desuetude; but, 
perhaps, it was ordained upon me as a 
reproof of my evil-minded suspicions ; 
for Floribel, seeing me fairly at a non¬ 
plus, took up the prayer with such a 
sweet fervency of tone, that methought 
it was being chanted by a choir of 
new-born eherubims. This little in¬ 
cident convinced me that I was to be 
engaged to the commission of no mor- 
tal sin. I listened with more compla¬ 
cency, although I remembered me 
that no great good ever came of the 
interference of fays and fairies, in the 
olden time, upon similar occasions. 
I trust my fair, sweet, and aecom- 
