ily, they say, in appearance and
character, and so I bring her lilies."

It was Eva Poindexter, the girl I--And she was strewing flowers on
Evelyn's grave.

* * * * *

LETTER II.

DEAR FELIX:

I have touched the hand of John Poindexter. In order to win a place in
the good graces of the daughter I must please the father, or at least
attract his favorable notice. I have reason to think I have done this.

Very truly, THOMAS.

ENTRY II.

I no longer feel myself a true man. John Poindexter is cold in
appearance, hard in manner, and inflexible in opinion, but he does not
inspire the abhorrence I anticipated nor awaken in me the one thought
due to the memory of my sister. Is it because he is Eva's father? Has
the loveliness of the daughter cast a halo about the parent? If so,
Felix has a right to execrate me and my father to----

* * * * *

LETTER III.

DEAR FELIX:

The introductions furnished me have made me received everywhere. There
is considerable wealth here and many fine houses. Consequently I find
myself in a congenial society, of which she is the star. Did I say that
he was, as of old, the chief man of the town?

Yours truly, THOMAS.

ENTRY III.

She is beautiful. She has the daintiness of the lily and the flush of
the rose. But it is not her beauty that moves me; it is the strange
sweetness of her nature, which, nevertheless, has no weakness in it; on
the contrary, it possesses peculiar strength, which becomes instantly
apparent at the call of duty. Could Felix have imagined such a
Poindexter? I cannot contemplate such loveliness and associate it with
the execrable sin which calls down vengeance upon this house. I cannot
even dwell upon my past life. All that is dark, threatening, secret, and
revengeful slips from me under her eye, and I dream of what is pure,
true, satisfying, and ennobling. And this by the influence of her smile,
rather than of her words. Have I been given an angel to degrade? Or am I
so blind as to behold a saint where others (Felix, let us say) would see
only a pretty woman with unexpected attractions?

* * * * *

LETTER IV.

DEAR FELIX:

Rides, dances, games, nonsense generally. My interest in this young girl
is beginning to be publicly recognized. She alone seems ignorant of it.
Sometimes I wonder if our scheme will fail through her impassibility and
more than conventional