ughts were chiefly with her as
I leaned from the lattice, and let my eye roam, now over the walks and
borders of the garden, now along the many-windowed front of the house
which rose white beyond the masses of foliage. I wondered in what part
of the building was situated her apartment; and a single light, shining
through the persiennes of one croisee, seemed to direct me to it.

"She watches late," thought I, "for it must be now near midnight. She
is a fascinating little woman," I continued in voiceless soliloquy; "her
image forms a pleasant picture in memory; I know she is not what the
world calls pretty--no matter, there is harmony in her aspect, and I
like it; her brown hair, her blue eye, the freshness of her cheek, the
whiteness of her neck, all suit my taste. Then I respect her talent;
the idea of marrying a doll or a fool was always abhorrent to me: I know
that a pretty doll, a fair fool, might do well enough for the honeymoon;
but when passion cooled, how dreadful to find a lump of wax and wood
laid in my bosom, a half idiot clasped in my arms, and to remember that
I had made of this my equal--nay, my idol--to know that I must pass the
rest of my dreary life with a creature incapable of understanding what
I said, of appreciating what I thought, or of sympathizing with what I
felt! "Now, Zoraide Reuter," thought I, "has tact, CARACTERE, judgment,
discretion; has she heart? What a good, simple little smile played
about her lips when she gave me the branch of lilacs! I have thought her
crafty, dissembling, interested sometimes, it is true; but may not much
that looks like cunning and dissimulation in her conduct be only
the efforts made by a bland temper to traverse quietly perplexing
difficulties? And as to interest, she wishes to make her way in the
world, no doubt, and who can blame her? Even if she be truly deficient
in sound principle, is it not rather her misfortune than her fault? She
has been brought up a Catholic: had she been born an Englishwoman, and
reared a Protestant, might she not have added straight integrity to
all her other excellences? Supposing she were to marry an English and
Protestant husband, would she not, rational, sensible as she is, quickly
acknowledge the superiority of right over expediency, honesty over
policy? It would be worth a man's while to try the experiment; to-morrow
I will renew my observations. She knows that I watch her: how calm she
is under scrutiny! it seems rather to gra