of her
former dignity; for the perseverance of the attorney perplexed and
troubled her exceedingly.

"You know not to what a fate you doom me," said Maxwell, heedless of the
lady's rebuke.

"There is no remedy;" and Miss Dumont grasped the door-knob.

"There is a remedy. Bid me wait a month, a year, any time, till you
examine more closely your own heart. Give me any respite from hopeless
misery."

"You have my answer; and now I trust to your honor as a gentleman to
save me from further annoyance," said Miss Dumont, with spirit, for her
patience was fast ebbing out.

"I will not _annoy_ you," replied Maxwell, with emphasis, as he assumed
an air of more self-possession. "I have been pleading for exemption from
the direst of human miseries. But I will not _annoy_ you, even to save
myself from endless woe."

"Forget this misplaced affection; for he assured my sentiments will
continue unchanged."

"I can never forget it; but I will strive to endure it with
resignation. I feel that I must still cherish the presumptuous hope
that you will yet relent."

"Destroy not your own peace; for the hope must be a vain one.
Good-afternoon;" and the lady departed before the attorney had time to
add another hyperbolical profession of a passion which, however well
acted, was not half so deeply grounded as he had led the unsuspecting
object of it to believe. That he really loved her was to some extent
true. That his love was earnest and pure, such as the blight of coldness
and inconstancy would render painful, was not true,--far from it. He had
sought her hand, not to lay at her feet the offering of a hallowed
affection, but to realize the object we have before mentioned,--to
enable him, by the possession of her vast wealth, to live a life of ease
and pleasure.

He had commenced his attack upon her affections with some prospect of
success. To the occasional professional visit he paid her father he had
added frequent social calls, in which he had used all his eloquence to
enlist the sympathies of the fair daughter. She had regarded him as an
agreeable visitor; and, indeed, his natural abilities, the unceasing wit
and liveliness of his conversation, had well earned him this
distinction. Flattering himself that he should be able to win her
affections, he had gradually emerged from the indifference of the mere
formalist to the incipient attentions of the devoted lover. These
overtures were not well received, and, if she had before t