, my child, what do you think your papa has done? He has arranged
for you to go with the Chaunceys to Europe next week. You know Maria was
telling you Monday that if you were not going to be married, she should
insist on your accompanying her. Now tell me, Emma, are you not
delighted?'

Emma _was_ delighted, or rather she was greatly relieved. She had more
sensitiveness and more pride than one would suppose, judging from her
amiable disposition. Her position had always been so well assured, her
society so much sought for, and she so much courted, that never, until
this occasion, had she experienced any important trial of her temper or
emotions.

To appear in society, the daughter of a bankrupt, jilted, and jilted
because she was no longer an heiress, exposed to the various remarks and
busy gossip so rife on such occasions, was it not trying? And do you
wonder that it was a great relief for her to know she was to be freed
from this ordeal; that she was to experience not only a complete change
of scene, but the change was to be every way agreeable, and what she
would, under ordinary circumstances, have most desired?

To visit Europe! In those days the affair was not one of such common
occurrence as at present, and of course the trip was the more valued.

Bravo, Emma! Next Thursday you will be on the ocean, away from every
disagreeable association. Much as we shall miss you, we must bid you
good-by for the present.

Emma did not close her eyes in sleep that night, and if her heart beat
with excitement at the thought of the sudden change in her destinies,
immediate as well as remote, there were moments when its pulses were
deadened, and a thick, brooding, unhappy melancholy took possession of
it, as she thought of what she had lost. A pang--it was that of
_disappointed love_--from time to time made itself felt with keenness,
and the morning found her restless and ill at ease. Could it be
otherwise?

* * * * *

When Hiram received the summons to attend Dr. Chellis in his study, he
was in the midst of a calculation as to the profit and loss of a certain
operation, which I do not propose to explain to the reader. He had
intended to call on the Doctor immediately on his return from Hampton,
but was too much occupied. When, however, he came to a sudden break with
Mrs. Tenant (_he_ did not intend it should be sudden), he felt the
necessity of fortifying himself in the church, for he was well