."

"I will listen attentively, my young friend, even were it as sad a
tale as mine, which can hardly be the case," said Roughgrove, drawing
his chair close to Glenn's side, and placing more fuel on the fire.

"Would to Heaven it had not been!" said Glenn, after reclining his
head on his hands a few minutes, and recalling transactions which he
could have wished to be blotted from his memory for ever. "I am a
native of New York," he continued, heaving a sigh and folding his
arms, "and was left an orphan at a very early age. My father was once
reputed one of the wealthiest merchants in Broadway; but repeated and
enormous losses, necessarily inexplicable to one of my age, suddenly
reduced him to comparative poverty. Neither he nor my mother survived
the blow many months, and before I was ten years old, I was left (with
the exception of an uncle in Philadelphia) alone in the world,
possessed of only a few hundred dollars. My uncle placed me with an
eminent physician, who had been my father's friend, after my education
was completed. He told me that he was rich, and would see that I
should not suffer for means until I had acquired a profession, which,
with energy and diligence, would enable me to procure an honourable
support. But he informed me that he had a family of his own, and that
I must not depend upon his assistance further than to accomplish a
profession.

"It was during my studies, and when about seventeen years old, that my
misfortunes began. My preceptor had another student, named Henry Wold,
several years my senior, whose parents were wealthy. Wold and I
entertained the highest esteem for each other. But our circumstances
being different, I could not indulge in all the excesses of
extravagance that he did, but made better progress in my studies. He
attended all the gay parties and fashionable places of amusement,
while I seldom spent an evening from home. He was tall, manly, and
possessed of regular and beautiful features--these, with his unlimited
wealth, made him a welcome guest in every circle, and extremely
popular with the ladies.

"One Sabbath morning, while sitting in church, (which I attended
regularly,) I was struck with the appearance of a stranger in an
opposite pew across the aisle that belonged to a family with whom I
was on the most intimate terms. The stranger was the most beautiful
young lady I ever beheld. Dark, languishing eyes, glossy ringlets,
pale, smooth forehead--oh! I will not descri