fied than she to
inspire to high and pure simplicity of life and thought, were it merely
by the example of her own. And would it not be a strange and beautiful
thing, if this beloved daughter of his should be the means of turning to
worthier and truer ambitions a man whom, of all others, he had reason to
wish honored and respected among mankind! It was a very alluring
thought, and the professor quite lost himself for a few moments in the
contemplation of it. He did not reflect, and Sophie could not know, that
there might be danger in the prosecution of such a scheme; for, all the
knowledge which a young girl like her can have or impart, must find its
ultimate origin in the heart. But then, again, the matter had taken no
definite or practical shape in his mind as yet, and things which in the
abstract may wear an appearance of being highly desirable often put on
quite a different look when presented in concrete form. This would be
especially the case with a man like Professor Valeyon, who was half a
dreamer, and half a practical, common-sensible individual. With Sophie,
however, whose whole life was necessarily a tissue of delicate and
high-wrought theories, there was no safeguard of the kind to be relied
upon.

No more conversation was had upon the subject at that time. The
professor went down to his breakfast, and, having disposed of it with
good appetite, and smoked his morning-pipe with quiet satisfaction,
Michael brought Dolly and the wagon round to the front door, the old
gentleman clambered in, and off they rattled to Abbie's boarding-house.

This "Abbie," as she was called in the village--indeed, not more than
one in a hundred knew her other name--had long been an institution among
the townspeople. When she first became a resident was uncertain: some
said more, some less than twenty years ago. Certain it was, at all
events, that she had grown, during her sojourn there, from a young and
comely, though sober-faced woman, to considerably more than middle age;
though time had perhaps used her less kindly than most women in her
situation in life, which is saying a good deal. No one could tell where
she came from, or what her previous life had been. She had first made
her appearance as purchaser of the house in which she had ever since
lived, and kept boarders. She was uncommunicative, without seeming
offensively reserved; quietly tenacious of her rights, though far from
grasping or aggressive, and was endowed with dec