ess depended not on the
revolutions of nature or the caprice of man. All without was, indeed,
vicissitude and uncertainty; but within my bosom was a centre not to be
shaken or removed. My purposes were honest and steadfast. Every sense
was the inlet of pleasure, because it was the avenue of knowledge; and
my soul brooded over the world to ideas, and glowed with exultation at
the grandeur and beauty of its own creations.

This felicity was too rapturous to be of long duration. I gradually
descended from these heights; and the remembrance of past incidents,
connected with the images of your family, to which I was returning, led
my thoughts into a different channel. Welbeck and the unhappy girl whom
he had betrayed; Mrs. Villars and Wallace, were recollected anew. The
views which I had formed, for determining the fate and affording
assistance to Clemenza, were recalled. My former resolutions with regard
to her had been suspended by the uncertainty in which the fate of the
Hadwins was, at that time, wrapped. Had it not become necessary wholly
to lay aside these resolutions?

That, indeed, was an irksome conclusion. No wonder that I struggled to
repel it; that I fostered the doubt whether money was the only
instrument of benefit; whether caution, and fortitude, and knowledge,
were not the genuine preservatives from evil. Had I not the means in my
hands of dispelling her fatal ignorance of Welbeck and of those with
whom she resided? Was I not authorized, by my previous though slender
intercourse, to seek her presence?

Suppose I should enter Mrs. Villars's house, desire to be introduced to
the lady, accost her with affectionate simplicity, and tell her the
truth? Why be anxious to smooth the way? why deal in apologies,
circuities, and innuendoes? All these are feeble and perverse
refinements, unworthy of an honest purpose and an erect spirit. To
believe her inaccessible to my visit was absurd. To wait for the
permission of those whose interest it might be to shut out visitants was
cowardice. This was an infringement of her liberty which equity and law
equally condemned. By what right could she be restrained from
intercourse with others? Doors and passages may be between her and me.
With a purpose such as mine, no one had a right to close the one or
obstruct the other. Away with cowardly reluctances and clownish
scruples, and let me hasten this moment to her dwelling.

Mrs. Villars is the portress of the mansion. She will