with the world, she would at length be brought
to accede to his wishes. That his rhetoric operating on her inexperience
would ultimately influence her in his favour.

CHAPTER XVI.

"Dejection pales thy rosy cheek,
And steals the lustre from thine eye;
The minutes of each tedious hour,
Are mark'd by sad anxiety:

"And all thy soft, endearing smiles,
That spoke with such expressive grace,
Alas! are fled, and only care
Is seen upon that pensive face."

The sublime works of nature had shed abroad their cheering influences,
and the mild and salubrious breezes of spring had succeeded to the
blustering gales of winter. The parents of Alida made preparation to
return to the country. Alida's father was declining in health. He had
imparted to his son his wish for him to close and settle his mercantile
affairs in the city, (as the times were dreary,) and return to the
paternal estate. In the meantime, Albert's assistance was necessary to
alleviate his father, as he was now advanced in years, and had
principally relinquished all public business, except attending to its
calls only when requested in cases of emergency.

Mr. Bolton had been with the family several days, and attended them on
board the steamboat. One would scarcely suppose that so interesting an
exterior as his, blended with highly polished manners, should not have
made some impression on the mind of Alida if her heart had been
disengaged. Besides, he was a person too amiable not to be esteemed. His
ideas with regard to Alida were altogether sanguine. He believed, as
soon as he should ask the consent of her parents, he would easily obtain
his wishes. He considered his own fortune already sufficient, without
seeking more in the din of business. And he possessed many other
advantages which pleaded in his favour. With these hopes of assured
success, he made proposals to her father. The manner in which her father
replied to him was altogether discouraging, which excluded the hope of
his ever gaining the hand of his daughter by his consent. This denial
was a sensible cause of chagrin to Mr. Bolton, but yet it did not
discourage him.

The impatience sometimes of obtaining a thing which is refused to us,
renders it still more desirable, and the heart is never in a greater
flutter than when it is agitated with the fear of losing the object it
most wishes to gain. Moreover, he believed that Alida was already
interested in his favour, and