ity to ascertain if
it differed from those of others whose lives were different.

[Illustration: It was Laura, the loved, adored Laura!--P. 221]

"When the operation was over, my anxiety to see her face returned.
After an ineffectual effort to untie the cord, I became impatient, and
seizing the knife that lay on the table, ripped open the muslin that
hid her features! My God! The knife dropped from my hand, and
penetrating the floor, quivered upright at my feet, while every member
of my body trembled in unison with it! I raised my hands with my
fingers spread out to the utmost tension. My mouth fell open, and my
eyes felt as if they were straining to leap from my head. _It was
Laura_--the loved, adored Laura--_my_ Laura! My friends heard me
repeat the name, and marked with surprise and concern my inexplicably
miserable condition. They gathered round me, and endeavoured to divert
my attention from the dead and now gory body. It was in vain. I heeded
not their words, but gazed steadfastly at the sad features of Laura,
with my hands still uplifted. I was speechless, deaf, and immovable.
No tear moistened my eyes, but burning thoughts rushed through my
brain. My heart was cold, cold. Ah, I remembered how I had loved her
once! I thought of the time when I was happy to bow down at her feet,
and in good faith attribute to her many of the pure qualities
pertaining to _risen_ angels. And this was her end! The beautiful and
innocent--the loving and beloved--the high born and wealthy--the light
and joy of fond and indulgent parents--had been beguiled by the
infernal tempter to make one step aside from the straight and
narrow-path of duty--and this was the result! The sensitive and
guileless girl became an incarnate fiend, callous to every modest and
virtuous impulse--scorned by the honest and good, and hating and
undermining the redeeming principles of her species--rushing from the
high station which her ancestors had arduously laboured for
generations to attain, and voluntarily taking up her abode in the dens
of squalid misery and indelible pollution--closing her eyes to the
might and majesty of a merciful God, beckoning her to his eternal
throne in heaven, and giving heed to the fatal devices of the enemy of
mankind, till she was dragged down, down to the innermost depths of a
raging and roaring hell! Such was the fate of Laura. Such is the fate
of thousands who willingly err, though it be ever so slight, for the
sake of enjoy