ome one suddenly
stepping in and boldly taking a seat by her side.

She turned her head. Could it be possible? Yes, it was indeed Tom Jackson,
handsomely dressed and looking, to a casual observer, the gentleman she
had once believed him to be. She recognized him instantly.

A burning blush suffused her face, dyeing even the fair neck and arms. She
spoke not a word, but rose up hastily with the intent to fly from his
hateful presence.

"Now don't, my darling, don't run away from me," he said, intercepting
her. "I'm sure you couldn't have the heart, if you knew how I have lived
for years upon the hope of such a meeting: for my love for you, dearest
Elsie, has never lessened, the ardor of my passion has never cooled----"

"Enough, sir," she said, drawing herself up, her eyes kindling and
flashing as he had never thought they could; "how dare you insult me by
such words, and by your presence here? Let me pass."

"Insult you, Miss Dinsmore?" he cried, in affected surprise. "You were not
wont, in past days, to consider my presence an insult, and I could never
have believed fickleness a part of your nature. You are now of age, and
have a right to listen to my defense, and my suit for your heart and
hand."

"Are you mad? Can you still suppose me ignorant of your true character and
your history for years past? Know then that I am fully acquainted with
them; that I know you to be a lover of vice and the society of the
vicious--a drunkard, profane, a gambler, and one who has stained his hands
with the blood of a fellow-creature," she added with a shudder. "I pray
God you may repent and be forgiven; but you are not and can never be
anything to me."

"So with all your piety you forsake your friends when they get into
trouble," he remarked with a bitter sneer.

"Friend of mine you never were," she answered quietly; "I know it was my
fortune and not myself you really wanted. But though it were true that
you loved me as madly and disinterestedly as you professed, had I known
your character, never, _never_ should I have held speech with you, much
less admitted you to terms of familiarity--a fact which I look back upon
with the deepest mortification. Let me pass, sir, and never venture to
approach me again."

"No you don't, my haughty miss! I'm not done with you yet," he exclaimed
between his clenched teeth, and seizing her rudely by the arm as she tried
to step past him. "So you're engaged to that fatherly friend of yours,
th