beginning to give way, and that the plunge below is unavoidable, a
certain courage, gained from despair, not only diminishes the terror of
the fall, but relieves the heart by a bold and terrible feeling that for
the moment banishes fear, and reconciles him to his fate."

"It is a dreadful analogy, my dear Lucy; but you must take comfort.
Who knows what a day may bring forth? You are not yet hanging upon the
precipice of life."

"I feel that I am,--Charles; and what is more, I see the depth to
which I must be precipitated; but, alas, I possess none of that fearful
courage that is said to reconcile one to the fall."

"Lucy," he replied, "into this gulf of destruction you shall never fall.
Believe me, there is an invisible hand that will support you when you
least expect it; a power that shapes our purposes, roughhew them as we
will. I came to request an interview with your father upon this very
subject. Have courage, dearest girl; friends are at work who I trust
will ere long be enabled to place documents in his hands that will soon
change his purposes. I grant that it is possible these documents may
fail, or may not be procured; and in that case I know not how we are to
act. I mention the probability of failure lest a future disappointment
occasion such a shock as in your present state you may be incapable of
sustaining; but still have hope, for the probability is in our favor."

She shook her head incredulously, and replied, "You do not know the
inflexible determination of my father on this point; neither can I
conceive what documents you could place before him that would change his
purpose."

"I do not conceive that I am at liberty even to you, Lucy, to mention
circumstances that may cast a stain upon high integrity and spotless
innocence, so long as it is possible the proofs I speak of may fail.
In the latter case, so far at least as the world is concerned, justice
would degenerate into scandal, whilst great evil and little good must
be the consequence. I think I am bound in honor not to place old age,
venerable and virtuous, on the one hand, and unsuspecting innocence on
the other, in a contingency that may cause them irreparable injury. I
will now say, that if your happiness were not involved in the success
or failure of our proceedings, I should have ceased to be a party in the
steps we are taking until the grave had closed upon one individual at
least, while unconscious of the shame that was to fall upon his f