etter than my life; but if I thought that your marrying me would
separate you from your mother's love, I would never consent to a union.
Ah, there can be no love so pure, so deep, so unselfish as a mother's
love. A mother! Oh, how sweet the name! how holy the office! I can
remember, though but faintly, my own mother. I was but a little girl
when I lost her, but I still see her face as it often bent over me
while I lay in my bed, and still, at times, can hear her voice. Oh,
what would I not have given had she lived! Ah, Charles, be sure that in
no act of your life you wrong your mother, or give her pain."

Charles Linden belonged to a family that claimed descent from some
distinguished ancestor on the mother's side--some one who had come from
England a long time ago, and who, when there, was ranked one of gentle
blood. Of the worth of his principles, little was known. He may have
been a high-minded and honourable man, or he may have possessed
qualities worthy of the detestation of all. Be that as it may, Mrs.
Linden valued herself highly on having come down in a right line,
through three generations, from this distinguished individual; and
there were plenty to estimate her by her own standard. As a woman,
taking her for what she was worth, she would have done very well, and
received from all sensible people due consideration; but her true
character as a woman was glossed over and somewhat defaced by her
pride. She did not regard her own qualities of mind as any thing--her
standing as one of the true aristocrats of society was every thing. As
for her husband, little was ever said about his ancestors; he had no
scruples, while living, of an investigation, for he feared none. His
father was a wealthy merchant, and his grandfather an honest farmer,
who fought for his country during the whole revolutionary campaign. The
old soldier left to his son the inheritance of sound moral principles,
a good education, and an enthusiastic love of his country. With these
as his only patrimony, he started in the world. At the age of fifty, he
died, leaving to his children an untarnished name and forty thousand
dollars a piece.

The father of Charles Linden had been in business several years when
this event took place, and had already acquired by his own exertions,
as well as by marriage, a handsome property. He died when Charles, his
eldest son, was but sixteen, leaving three children, two sons and one
daughter; and a widow estimated to b