THE FLORAL TELEGRAPH. 67 
plished readers will pardon me this 
digression ; in the first place, because 
old age is given to digress; and, in 
the second place, that they may feel 
assured that I did not yield my cre¬ 
dence to this very singular being, 
either very lightly or very vainly. 
“ Well, Mr. Honeycomb,” she re¬ 
sumed, after a pause that appeared to 
be one of decent meditation, “ I at¬ 
tended at, not presided over, the birth 
of the heiress, the first-born, and the 
last — the blue-eyed Violetta Bela- 
mour. The legitimate influence of 
affinity that it is in our power to use 
over the actions of mortals I availed 
myself of, and caused the sweet babe 
