ng gentleman the hero
of her grateful imagination, and commenced an intercourse for which his
sister's inconsiderate patronage gave ample opportunities. His head was
full of the theory of fusion of classes, and of the innate refinement,
freshness of intellect, and vigour of perception of the unsophisticated,
at least so he thought, and when he lent her books, commenting on
favourite passages, and talked poetry or popular science to her, he
imagined himself walking in the steps of those who were asserting the
claims of intelligence to cultivation, and sowing broadcast the seeds of
art, literature, and emancipation. Perhaps he knew not how often he was
betrayed into tokens of admiration, sufficient to inflame such a
disposition as he had to deal with, and if he were aware of his
influence, and her adoration, it idly flattered and amused him, without
thought of the consequences.

On the night when she had fainted at the sight of his attention to
Phoebe, she was left on his hands in a state when all caution and reserve
gave way, and her violent agitation fully awakened him to the perception
of the expectations he had caused, the force of the feelings he had
aroused. A mixture of pity, vanity, and affection towards the beautiful
creature before him had led to a response such as did not disappoint her,
and there matters might have rested for the present, but that their
interview had been observed. Edna, terror-stricken, believing herself
irretrievably disgraced, had thrown herself on his mercy in a frantic
condition, such as made him dread exposure for himself, as well as
suspense for her tempestuous nature.

With all his faults, the pure atmosphere in which he had grown up,
together with the tone of his associates, comparatively free from the
grosser and more hard-hearted forms of vice, had concurred with poor
Edna's real modesty and principle in obtaining the sanction of marriage,
for her flight with him from the censure of Wrapworth, and the rebukes of
her mother. Throughout, his feeling had been chiefly stirred up by the
actual sight of her beauty, and excited by her fervent passion. When
absent from her, there had been always regrets and hesitations, such as
would have prevailed, save for his compassion, and dread of the effects
of her desperation, both for her and for himself. The unpardonable
manner in which he knew himself to have acted, made it needful to plunge
deeper for the very sake of concealment.

Yet