She has not been dazzled by their titles and their gilded
coronets. She has judged them simply as men, and found them wanting. One
of them, however, a young Neapolitan prince, I believe, has after a long
probation succeeded in making himself acceptable. Miss Light has at last
said yes, and the engagement has just been announced. I am not generally
a retailer of gossip of this description, but the fact was alluded to
an hour ago by a lady with whom I was conversing, and here, in Europe,
these conversational trifles usurp the lion's share of one's attention.
I therefore retained the circumstance. Yes, I regret that Miss Light
should marry one of these used-up foreigners. Americans should stand by
each other. If she wanted a brilliant match we could have fixed it for
her. If she wanted a fine fellow--a fine, sharp, enterprising modern
man--I would have undertaken to find him for her without going out of
the city of New York. And if she wanted a big fortune, I would have
found her twenty that she would have had hard work to spend: money
down--not tied up in fever-stricken lands and worm-eaten villas! What is
the name of the young man? Prince Castaway, or some such thing!"
It was well for Mr.
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