th the wandering one; and in a swift, agonized longing for
the restfulness which the meanest virtue gives, but which had forever
fled from her, the thought, if not the words:

"Of all sad words of tongue or pen
The saddest are these: It might have been"--

sped through her mind in a pitiful way; but just as she had almost
resolved to return to her parents, ask their forgiveness, and disclose
the character of the reverend villain, a man approached her, who,
saying he was "from Bland," conducted her to a carriage in waiting and
conveyed her to the Michigan Exchange Hotel, where she was fictitiously
registered, and the clerk informed that her brother would call for her
in the evening.

She had been assigned a very pretty room, elegantly furnished, and the
windows gave her a view of the river and the shipping, with Windsor and
the bluff hills of Canada beyond. It was all beautiful and wonderful to
her--the hotel a palace, the river, with its great steamers, vessels,
and ferries--a fairy scene; and Windsor, with the broken country beyond,
all covered by the soft, blue, gossamer veil of early autumn--a
beautiful dream!

With her thoroughly unprincipled nature there was a lazy sort of
enjoyment in all this; and when her dinner was brought to her room, as
had been previously ordered by the hackman, and she was gingerly served
by an ordinarily nimble waiter, but who took every possible occasion to
illustrate the fact that he was cultivated and she was not, she received
the attention in as dignified a manner as though born to rule, and had
been accustomed to the service of menials from infancy.

The afternoon wore away, and as the gas-lights began to flare out upon
the city, a gentle tap was heard at her door, and a moment after, before
an invitation to enter had been given, the oily Bland slid into Lilly's
apartment, closed the door after him, and turned the key in the lock.
Then he walked right over to where Lilly was sitting upon the sofa, and
took her in his arms, saying:

"Well, I see my dearest Lilly has kept her word."

She allowed him to fondle her just long enough to dare to repel him
gently, and answered:

"After what passed by the river, I could not do otherwise than keep my
word. Yes, your 'dearest Lilly' has kept her word. And what now, Mr.
Bland?"

Seeing that she was disposed to ask leading questions, he changed the
subject laughingly.

"Why, some supper, of course," and immediately rang the bell,