"She never told me so. How very strange!"

"Does she ever speak of any other circumstance of her prosperous days?"

"That is true, only incidentally."

"Time was," said Philip, "when some boyish dreams connected themselves
with Maria Young--only transiently, and quite at the bottom of my own
fancy. I never spoke of them to any one before, nor fully acknowledged
them to myself. She was the first sensible woman I ever knew--the first
who conveyed to me any conception of what the moral nature of a woman
may be, under favourable circumstances. For this I am under great
obligations to her; and this is all the feeling that I brought out of
our intercourse. It might possibly have come to more, but that I
disliked her father excessively, and left off going there on that
account. What a selfish wretch I was in those days! I can hardly
believe it now; but I distinctly remember rejoicing, on hearing of her
accident, that my esteem for her had not passed into a warmer feeling,
as I should then have suffered so much on her account."

"Is it possible?" cried Margaret, who, in the midst of the unpleasant
feeling excited by this fact, did not fail to remark to herself that
there could have been no love in such a case.

"I ought, for my own sake, however, Margaret, to say that Maria Young
had not the slightest knowledge of her influence over me--superficial
and transient as it was. I never conveyed it to her by word or act; and
I am thankful I did not--for this reason among many--that I am now
perfectly free to show her all the kindness she deserves, both from her
own merits, and from her being a beloved friend of yours."

Margaret had no doubt of Philip's full conviction of what he was saying;
but she was far from certain that he was not mistaken--that looks and
tones might not have communicated what words and acts had been forbidden
to convey. She thought of Maria's silence about her former acquaintance
with Philip, of her surprising knowledge of his thoughts and ways,
betraying itself to a vigilant observer through the most trivial
conversation, and of her confession that there had been an attachment to
some one: and, thinking of these things, her heart melted within her for
her friend. She silently resolved upon the only method she could think
of, to spare her feelings. She would write the news of this engagement,
instead of going to tell it, as she had intended. She was confident
that it would be no surprise to