e had not arisen in my thought to the full mental stature
which the word manhood includes.

"Ah," said I, as I walked on, "what a mistake in Delia Floyd! She is
just as capable of high development as a woman as he is as a man.
How admirably would they have mated. In him, self-reliance, reason,
judgment, and deep feeling would have found in her all the qualities
they seek--taste, perception, tenderness and love. They would have grown
upwards into higher ideas of life, not downwards into sensualism and
mere worldliness, like the many. Alas! This mistake on her part may
ruin them both; for a man of deep, reserved feelings, who suffers a
disappointment in love, is often warped in his appreciation of the sex,
and grows one-sided in his character as he advances through the cycles
of life."

I had parted from Henry only a few minutes when I met his rival, Ralph
Dewey. Let me describe him. In person he was taller than Wallingford,
and had the easy, confident manner of one who had seen the world, as we
say. His face was called handsome; but it was not a manly face--manly in
that best sense which includes character and thought. The chin and mouth
were feeble, and the forehead narrow, throwing the small orbs close
together. But he had a fresh complexion, dark, sprightly eyes, and
a winning smile. His voice was not very good, having in it a kind of
unpleasant rattle; but he managed it rather skillfully in conversation,
and you soon, ceased to notice the peculiarity.

Ralph lived in New York, where he had recently been advanced to the
position of fourth partner in a dry goods jobbing house, with a small
percentage on the net profits. Judging from the air with which he spoke
of his firm's operations, and his relation to the business, you might
have inferred that he was senior instead of junior partner, and that the
whole weight of the concern rested on his shoulders.

Judge Bigelow, a solid man, and from professional habit skilled in
reading character, was, singularly enough, quite carried away with his
smart nephew, and really believed his report of himself. Prospectively,
he saw him a merchant prince, surrounded by palatial splendors.

Our acquaintance was as yet but slight, so we only nodded in passing.
As we were in the neighborhood of Squire Floyd's pleasant cottage, I was
naturally curious, under the circumstances, to see whether the young
man was going to make a visit at so early an hour; and I managed to keep
long enough