rich, wavy curls, which seemed to be the especial care of some
renowned tonsorial artist, so gracefully and accurately were they
arranged. His black eye was sharp and expressive when his mind was
excited in manly thought; but now it was a little unsteady,--disposed to
droop, and wander, as though ashamed to express the emotions which
agitated his soul. Altogether, his features were classic; but there was
something about them which the moralist would not like--a sort of
lascivious softness mingling with the nobler intellectual expression,
that warned him to beware of the Siren, while he admired the Apollo.

The marks of vice were visible in his countenance. They had not yet
become canker-spots on the surface, but they rankled and festered
beneath that fair field of physical and intellectual grandeur.

The young attorney was dressed in the extreme of fashion, yet in good
taste. Though he wore all the fashion demanded, he did not court
ridicule by overstepping its flickering lines. He was not the
over-dressed dandy, but the full-dressed gentleman of refined taste, in
his external appearance.

Anthony Maxwell had been educated at a northern institution. A year
before his introduction to the reader, he had entered his father's
office in the capacity of a partner, where, by an assumed devotion to
business, he had effectually deceived his father and his clients into
the belief that he was a steady, industrious young man. His talents were
of a very respectable order, which, superadded to a native eloquence and
an engaging demeanor, had enabled him to acquit himself with much credit
in the cases intrusted to his management. A few months after his
professional _debut_, his father's decease had placed him in possession
of a very lucrative practice and a moderate fortune, thus enabling him
in some degree to follow the bent of his own inclinations. To those
whose habits and desires were similar to his own, he was not long in
unfolding his true character, though not to a sufficient extent to
destroy at once his professional prospects. The irresponsible life of
the man of leisure had more charms to him than an honorable distinction
in his profession. To labor in any form he had an intolerable
repugnance. His fortune was not sufficient to allow an entire neglect of
business; therefore he determined to practise law in an easy manner,
until a rich wife, or the "tricks" of his craft, would permit an entire
devotion to the pleasures of