d was not the future bright with promise? A man of his years was not
through with life. He felt at times as he gazed upon her face with its
indescribable power of awakening far-reaching thoughts and feelings in
callous breasts long unused to the holy influence of either, that he had
just begun to live; that the golden country, with its enticing vistas,
lay all before him, and that the youth, which he had missed, had somehow
returned to his prime, fresh with more than its usual enthusiasm and
bright with more than its wonted hopes and projects. With this glorious
woman at his side, life would be new indeed, and if new why not pure and
sweet and noble? What was there to hinder him from making the existence
of this sweet soul a walking amongst gentle duties, satisfied dreams and
holy aspirations? A past remorse? Why the gates could be closed on that!
A strain of innate weakness for the world's good opinion and applause?
Ah! with love in his life such a weakness must disappear; besides had he
not taken a vow on her dear head, that ought to hedge him about as with
angel's wings in the hour of temptation? Men with his experience do not
invoke the protection of innocence to guard a degraded soul. Why, then,
all this hesitation? A great boon was being offered to him after years
of loneliness and immeasurable longing; was it not the will of heaven,
that he should meet and enjoy this unexpected grace? He dared to stop
and ask, and once daring to ask, the insidious waters found their way
beneath the foundations of his resolution, and the lofty structure he
had reared in such self-confidence, began to tremble where it stood,
though as yet it betrayed no visible sign of weakness.

Meanwhile, society with its innumerable demands, had drawn the beautiful
young girl within its controlling grasp. She must go here, she must go
there; she must lend her talents to this, her beauty to that. Before she
had decided whether she ought to remain in the city a week, two had
flown by, and in all this time Mr. Ensign had been ever at her side,
brightening in her own despite, hours which might else have been sad,
and surrounding her difficult path with proofs of his silent and wary
devotion. A golden net seemed to be closing around her, and, though as
yet, she had given no token of a special recognition of her position,
Miss Belinda betrayed by the uniform complacence of her demeanor, that
she for one regarded the matter as effectually settled.

The