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56 We have heard of the solitude of the wide ocean, of the sandy desert, of the pathless forest; but, for a real, thorough, and entire knowledge, far beyond Zimmerman's, of the pleasures of solitude, commend us to a young damsel doomed to a sofa and female society, while quadrille after quadrille is formed in her sight, and the waltzes go round, like stars with whose motions we have nothing to do. The crowd was now beginning rapidly to disperse: true, there was more space for the pas seul; but fatigue had quenched its spirit—curls showed symptoms of straightness—the bouquets had lost their freshness, and so had many a cheek. At this moment Lady Mandeville came up; and a shade, the least in the world, on the brow of her young visitor showed a discontent which, in her heart, she thought such a chaperone as Lady Alicia might well justify. Never was kindness more gracious in its courtesy than her's. "Captain St. Leger, Miss Arundel;" and the next minute Emily prepared smile and step: one at least was thrown away; her partner, strong in the consciousness of coat, curls, and commission, the best of their kind, deemed it risking the peace of the female world unnecessarily