olutely as if she had been one of his slaves. I
had every reason to think that his plans on this subject were matured,
and only waited for a little more teaching and training on my part, and
her fuller development in womanhood, to be announced to her.

In looking back over the past, therefore, I have not to reproach myself
with any dishonest and dishonorable breach of trust; for I was from the
first upon my guard, and so much so that even the jealousy my other
scholars never accused me of partiality. I was not in the habit of
giving very warm praise, and was in my general management anxious
rather to be just than conciliatory, knowing that with the kind of
spirits I had to deal with, firmness and justice went farther than
anything else. If I approved Dolores oftener than the rest, it was seen
to be because she never failed in a duty; if I spent more time with her
lessons, it was because her enthusiasm for study led her to learn longer
ones and study more things; but I am sure there was never a look or a
word toward her that went beyond the proprieties of my position.

But yet I could not so well guard my heart. I was young and full of
feeling. She was beautiful; and more than that, there was something in
her Spanish nature at once so warm and simple, so artless and yet so
unconsciously poetic, that her presence was a continual charm. How well
I remember her now,--all her little ways,--the movements of her pretty
little hands,--the expression of her changeful face as she recited to
me,--the grave, rapt earnestness with which she listened to all my
instructions!

I had not been with her many weeks before I felt conscious that it was
her presence that charmed the whole house, and made the otherwise
perplexing and distasteful details of my situation agreeable. I had a
dim perception that this growing passion was a dangerous thing for
myself; but was it a reason, I asked, why I should relinquish a position
in which I felt that I was useful, and when I could do for this lovely
child what no one else could do? I call her a child,--she always
impressed me as such,--though she was in her sixteenth year and had the
early womanly development of Southern climates. She seemed to me like
something frail and precious, needing to be guarded and cared for; and
when reason told me that I risked my own happiness in holding my
position, love argued on the other hand that I was her only friend, and
that I should be willing to risk somethi