is resolution they came, which
closed the above interesting dialogue between them. We say interesting,
for if it has not been such to the reader, it was so at least to
themselves.

CHAPTER XVI. A House of Sorrow.

--After which follows a Courting Scene.

The deep sorrow and desolation of spirit introduced by the profligate
destroyer into the humble abode of peace and innocence is an awful thing
to contemplate. In our chapter headed "The Wake of a Murderer" we
have attempted to give a picture of it. The age, indeed, was one of
licentiousness and profligacy. The reigning monarch, Charles the Second,
of infamous memory, had set the iniquitous example to his subjects, and
surrounded his court by an aristocratic crew, who had scarcely anything
to recommend them but their imitation of his vices, and this was
always a passport to his favor, whilst virtue, morality, and honor were
excluded with contempt and derision. In fact, the corrupt atmosphere
of his court carried its contagion throughout the empire, until the
seduction of female innocence became the fashion of the day, and no man
could consider himself entitled to a becoming position in society who
had not distinguished himself by half a dozen criminal intrigues either
with the wives or daughters of his acquaintances. When we contemplate
for a moment the contrast between the abandoned court of that royal
profligate, and that under which we have the happiness to live--the
one, a sty of infamy, licentiousness, and corruption; the other, a well,
undented of purity, virtue, and honor, to whose clear mind unadulterated
waters nothing equivocal, or even questionable, dares to approach,
much less the base or the tainted--we say that, on instituting this
comparison and contrast, the secret of that love and affectionate
veneration which we bear to our pure and highminded Queen, and the pride
which we feel in the noble example which she and her Royal Consort have
set us, requires no illustration whatsoever. The affection and gratitude
of her people are only the meed due to her virtues and to his. We need
not apologize to our readers for this striking contrast. The period and
the subject of our narrative, as well as the melancholy scene to which
we are about to introduce the reader, rendered it an impossibility to
avoid it.

We now proceed to the humble homestead of Torley Davoren; a homestead
which we have already described as the humble abode of peace and
happiness. B