lities as could scarcely be surpassed."

"And who could surpass Isabel?" inquired Gerty. "Can you wonder that I
trembled for your allegiance when I thought of her beauty, her fashion,
her family, and her wealth, and remembered the forcible manner in which
all these were presented to your sight and knowledge?"

"But what are all these, Gerty, to one who knows her as we do? Do not a
proud eye and a scornful lip destroy the effect of beauty? Can fashion
excuse rudeness, or noble birth cover natural deficiencies? And as to
money, what did I ever want of that, except to employ it for the
happiness of yourself--and them?" and he glanced at the graves of his
mother and grandfather.

"Oh, Willie! you are so disinterested."

"Not in this case. Had Isabel possessed the beauty of a Venus and the
wisdom of a Minerva, I could not have forgotten how little happiness
there could be with one who, while devoting herself to the pursuit of
pleasure, had become dead to natural affections and indifferent to the
holiest of duties. Could I see her flee from the bedside of her father
to engage in the frivolities and drink in the flatteries of an idle
crowd--or, when unwillingly summoned thither, shrink from the toils and
watchings imposed by his feebleness--and still imagine that such a woman
could bless and adorn a fireside? Could I fail to contrast her unfeeling
neglect, ill-concealed petulance, flagrant levity, and irreverence of
spirit, with the sweet and loving devotion, the saintly patience, and
the deep and fervent piety of my own Gertrude? I should have been false
to myself, as well as to you, dearest, if such traits of character as
Miss Clinton constantly evinced could have ever weakened my love and
admiration for yourself. And now, to see the little playmate whose image
I cherished so fondly matured into the lovely and graceful woman, her
sweet attractions crowned by so much beauty as to place her beyond
recognition, and still her heart as much my own as ever! Oh, Gerty, it
is too much happiness! Would that I could impart a share of it to those
who loved us both so well!"

And who can say that they did not share it?--that the spirit of Uncle
True was not there to witness the completion of his many hopeful
prophecies? that the old grandfather was not there to see all his doubts
and fears giving place to joyful certainties? and that the soul of the
gentle mother whose rapt slumbers had even in life foreshadowed such a
meeting, and