best, perhaps!' she replied, turning her eyes to mine,
I thought, with calmness.

"'Laura,' said I, again taking her hand, for I was once more subdued
by her beauty, 'I love you with my whole soul, and must continue to
love you. Ay, were you even to spurn me with your foot, so
indissolubly have my affections grown to your image, that my bleeding
heart would turn in adoration to the smiter. And I fondly hoped and
believed that the passion was returned--indeed, I had your assurance
of the fact; nay, think not I design to reproach you. It were
bootless, had I the heart to do it. Be assured that were you not only
cruel to me, but steeped in crime and guilty of injustice to the whole
human race, I would still be your friend were all others to forsake
you. Deem me never your foe, or capable of ever becoming such. May
heaven bless you! We part--but, under _any_ circumstances, should
adverse fortune overtake you and I can be of service, I beg you not to
hesitate to apply to me. You will find me still your friend. I will
not attempt to reverse the decision which you have made. However
humiliating and poignant the thought may be that I was unconsciously
the means of introducing the _object_ that influenced your decision,
yet I will not murmur, neither will I become _his_ enemy, for your
sake. I hope you will be happy. I pray that heaven may incline your
heart to be true and _constant_ to Wold.'

"'I hope so,' said she in a low tone.

"'Laura,' said I, rising, 'you confess, then, that Wold possesses your
love?'

"'Yes,' said she; 'but I cannot help it!'

"'Farewell!' said I, kissing her yielding hand, and turning
deliberately away, though with the sensation of one stunned by a
thunderbolt. I returned home, and threw myself like a loathsome
carcass upon my couch. I could not even think. My mind seemed like
some untenanted recess in the unfathomable depths below. Instantaneous
death, and even eternal perdition afterwards, could have presented no
new horrors then. It was haply the design of Providence that the
thought of self-destruction should not occur to me. With the means in
my reach, I would in all probability have rushed, uncalled and
unprepared, into the presence of an offended Creator.

"A fever and delirium, such as possessed the poor youth lying there,
ensued. Under the kind care of my preceptor, my malady abated in a few
weeks; and, as I recovered, a change took place in my sentiments
regarding the events that prod