the sister with this magical agent;
but--and his heart quailed at the thought--could it buy self-respect?
Could it enable him to look into the clear eye of that woman he would
call his wife, and say, "My soul is worthy to be linked with thine in
the realms of eternity."

No--he felt that the sacrilegious union must be unblessed on earth,
and severed in heaven, yet he shrunk not from his purpose.

He lost no time in seeking Edith; Mrs. Euston was yet buried in the
leaden slumber produced by a powerful narcotic. The unhappy girl
received him alone, and he remarked that his words of impassioned love
brought no color to her marble cheek--no emotion to her soul; she
seemed to have steeled herself for the interview, and it was not until
he pressed the kiss of betrothal upon her pallid lips, that she
betrayed any sensibility--then a thrill, a shudder pervaded her whole
frame, and he supported her nearly insensible form several moments
before she regained power to sustain herself. Could he have looked
into that breaking heart, and have read there all the bitter loathing,
the agonized struggles for self-control, would he have persisted in
his suit? Yes--for this was a part of his vengeance for the slights
she had put upon him; and in the future, if she did not play the part
he thus forced upon her, with all the devotion he should exact, had he
not bitter words at his command to taunt her with the scene of that
morning?

A physician was called in, who advised the removal of Mrs. Euston
while she slept; and arrangements were soon made to accomplish it. The
family to whom Barclay's present retreat belonged, were spending the
summer at the north, and their house had been left at his disposal. He
determined to remove Mrs. Euston and her daughter thither, while he
took up his own abode, until the day of his marriage, with a bachelor
friend in the neighborhood.

Edith demanded an interval of a week before their union took place,
which he reluctantly granted. Naturally prodigal, he employed the time
in ordering the most elegant _trousseau_ for his bride. She who so
lately was struggling with bitter want, was now surrounded by servants
eager to anticipate every wish, while Barclay played the devoted
lover. Edith prayed earnestly for power to regard him with such
feelings as alone could hallow the union they were about to form. Vain
were her lonely struggles--her tearful supplications; a spectral form
seemed to rise ever between them