s in unconnected solitude. Who will willingly share the
scant portion of bare sufficiency, or interweave their destiny with the
tangled web of my intricate fortunes? Would you plant a flourishing
eglantine under the blasted oak? Remove it from such a neighbourhood, or
the blessed rain passing through the blighted branches, will affect its
verdure with pestilent mildew, instead of cherishing it with wholesome
shade."

Some short time after this conversation, Mrs. Beaumont observed to her
husband that an extraordinary change had taken place in Isabel's manners
since Evellin had become a frequent visitor. "She very rarely laughs,"
said she; "but that I do not wonder at, for the infection of his
melancholy has made us all grave; but she often, weeps. Then she is so
absent, that she cut out the frieze gowns for the alms-women too short,
and spoiled Mrs. Mellicent's eye-water. The tapestry chairs are thrown
aside, and she steals from us to the bower in the yew-tree that
overlooks the green, where she devotes her mornings to reading Sydney's
Arcadia. My dear Eusebius, I see her disease, for I recollect my own
behaviour when I was doubtful whether you preferred me; but surely, if a
connection with Evellin would involve our dear Isabel in distress, ought
I not to warn her of her danger in so disposing of her heart?"

"I fear," replied the Doctor, "if your observations are correct, that
the caution would now come too late. Isabel is of an age to judge for
herself, and if she prefers a partner in whom high degrees of desert and
suffering seem united, ought her friends to interfere? If her own
feelings tell her that she considers personal merit as an equipoise to
adversity, shall we tell her that outward splendour constitutes
intrinsic greatness? I marvel not that Evellin interests my sister; he
engages most of my thoughts, and I have employed myself in collecting
instances of good men suffering wrongfully, and of the piety, humility,
and patience with which they endured chastening. These may be useful to
Evellin; if not, they will be so to ourselves whenever sorrow visits our
abode, as she is sure some time to do while she is travelling to and fro
on the earth."

Mrs. Beaumont acquiesced in her husband's opinion, and determined that
love should take its course, but it met with an opponent in the person
of Mrs. Mellicent Beaumont, who perhaps was not free from those
objections which elder sisters often entertain to the engagement