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34 the ball room displayed incomparable taste, beauty, and elegance; light silk draperies adapted to the season decorated the spacious windows. The opposite side opened into a conservatory, containing a choice collection of exotics, whose vivid hues were heightened by the reflected rays of light which fell upon them from the innumerable lamps around. Near the conservatory, which led to the lawn and shrubbery, was erected a temporary orchestra for the musicians. The aromatic perfumes emitted from the flowers, the luminous appearance of every object, the exhilarating charms of music, all conspired to delight and captivate; all was pleasure, all enchantment! The company was numerous; every family and person in the neighbourhood, including the distance of many miles, distinguished either by rank, beauty, or fashion, had assembled.

Among the belles none excited more attention than the youthful sisters. It was not the outward feature which gave to them their principal attraction; it was mind, which finely harmonized with the external shape; it was the light of soul which illuminated their countenances, and displayed in each the particular qualifications a bountiful Providence had assigned them. Oriana, easy, gracious, and unobtrusive, discovered so much