ty to her life, that for years
had rolled on in the same peaceful, unvaried course. She felt displeased
at Bonville for his insinuations concerning Theodore, which were
ungenerous and ill-natured,--while he seemed to flatter himself with the
idea that she would become forgetful of him. He had hitherto yielded to
every selfish propensity, without once seriously reflecting on its
consequences to himself or others. His understanding, warped by
prejudice, and without control, often misled him, and the superiority an
elevated station gave him caused him to neglect to practice those better
principles of which his nature might have been capable. His pride would
suffer to see Alida united to another, therefore he was determined not
to relinquish her. He concluded that finally she would look upon
Theodore with indifference, and become favourably disposed towards
himself; while his regard for her should prove unchangeable. That,
unacquainted as she was 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."

[_NY Weekly_: On the recovery of an Only Child from the Small-pox,
lines 1-8:

When sickness pal'd thy rosy cheek,
And stole the lustre from thine eye,
The minutes of each tedious hour
Were mark'd by sad anxiety.
For all thy soft endearing smiles,
Which spoke with such expressive grace,
Alas! were fled, and only pain
Was trac'd upon thy cherub 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, e