r in his proper calling; and whenever
he received the payment he spent it in debauch, to the neglect, while it
lasted, of his pupils. This man had residing with him a young daughter,
singularly beautiful. You may divine the rest. I fell in love with
her,--a love deepened by the compassion with which she inspired me. Her
father left her so frequently that, living on the same floor, we saw
much of each other. Parent and child were often in great need,--lacking
even fuel or food. Of course I assisted them to the utmost of my scanty
means Much as I was fascinated by Louise Duval, I was not blind to great
defects in her character. She was capricious, vain, aware of her beauty,
and sighing for the pleasures or the gauds beyond her reach. I knew that
she did not love me,--there was little, indeed, to captivate her fancy
in a poor, thread-bare medical student,--and yet I fondly imagined that
my own persevering devotion would at length win her affections, I spoke
to her father more than once of my hope some day to make Louise my
wife. This hope, I must frankly acknowledge, he never encouraged. On the
contrary, he treated it with scorn,--"His child with her beauty
would look much higher;" but be continued all the same to accept my
assistance, and to sanction my visits. At length my slender purse was
pretty well exhausted, and the luckless drawing-master was so harassed
with petty debts that further credit became impossible. At this time
I happened to hear from a fellow-student that his sister, who was the
principal of a lady's school in Cheltenham, bad commissioned him to look
out for a first-rate teacher of drawing with whom her elder pupils
could converse in French, but who should be sufficiently acquainted with
English to make his instructions intelligible to the young. The salary
was liberal, the school large and of high repute, and his appointment
to it would open to an able teacher no inconsiderable connection among
private families. I communicated this intelligence to Duval. He caught
at it eagerly. He had learned at Tours to speak English fluently; and
as his professional skill was of high order, and he was popular with
several eminent artists, he obtained certificates as to his talents,
which my fellow-student forwarded to England with specimens of Duval's
drawings. In a few days the offer of an engagement arrived, was
accepted, and Duval and his daughter set out for Cheltenham. At the
eve of their departure, Louise, profo