means whereby he was to gain the position at which
he aspired. Possessing no attractive virtues--no personal merits of
any kind, his prospects of a connection, such as he wished to form,
through the medium of any honorable advances, were hopeless, and
this he perfectly well understood. But, the conviction did not in
the least abate the ardor of his purpose. And, in a mean and
dastardly spirit, he approached one young school girl after another,
until he found in Caroline Everett one weak enough to be flattered
by his attentions. The father of Caroline, who was a man of some
discrimination and force of mind, understood his daughter's
character, and knowing the danger to which she was exposed, kept
upon her a watchful eye. Caroline's meetings with Lawson were not
continued long before he became aware of the fact, and he at once
removed her to a school at a distance from the city. It would have
been wiser had he taken her home altogether. Lawson could have
desired no better arrangement, so far as his wishes were concerned.

On the day succeeding that on which Lawson left New York, Caroline
was taking her morning walk with two or three companions, when she
noticed a mark on a certain tree, which she knew as a sign that her
lover was in the neighborhood and awaiting her in the secluded glen,
half a mile distant, where they had already met. Feigning to have
forgotten something, she ran back, but as soon as she was out of
sight of her companions, she glided off with rapid steps in the
direction where she expected to find Lawson. And she was not
disappointed.

"Dear Caroline!" he exclaimed, with affected tenderness, drawing his
arm about her and kissing her cheek, as he met her. "How happy I am
to see you again! Oh! it has seemed months since I looked upon your
sweet young face."

"And yet it is only a week since you were here," returned Caroline,
looking at him fondly.

"I cannot bear this separation. It makes me wretched," said Lawson.

"And I am miserable," responded Caroline, with a sigh, and her eyes
fell to the ground. "Miserable," she repeated.

"I love you, tenderly, devotedly," said Lawson, as he tightly
clasped the hand he had taken: "and it is my most ardent wish to
make you happy. Oh! why should a parent's mistaken will interpose
between us and our dearest wishes?"

Caroline leaned toward the young man, but did not reply.

"Is there any hope of his being induced to give his consent
to--to--our--union?"