e had been obliged to take off his
silk handkerchief and tie her hands with it behind her back.

"This she never forgave him: she made so many attempts, she laid so many
plans to injure him, that the parents, who had been long watching these
singular passions, came to a mutual understanding and resolved to
separate these two hostile creatures, and sacrifice their favorite
hopes.

"The boy shot rapidly forward in the new situation in which he was
placed. He mastered every subject which he was taught. His friends and
his own inclination chose the army for his profession, and everywhere,
let him be where he would, he was looked up to and beloved. His
disposition seemed formed to labor for the well-being and the pleasure
of others; and he himself, without being clearly conscious of it, was in
himself happy at having got rid of the only antagonist which nature had
assigned to him.

"The girl, on the other hand, became at once an altered creature. Her
growing age, the progress of her education, above all, her own inward
feelings, drew her away from the boisterous games with boys in which she
had hitherto delighted. Altogether she seemed to want something; there
was nothing anywhere about her which could deserve to excite her hatred,
and she had never found any one whom she could think worthy of her love.

"A young man, somewhat older than her previous neighbor-antagonist, of
rank, property, and consequence, beloved in society, and much sought
after by women, bestowed his affections upon her. It was the first time
that friend, lover, or servant had displayed any interest in her. The
preference which he showed for her above others who were older, more
cultivated, and of more brilliant pretensions than herself, was
naturally gratifying; the constancy of his attention, which was never
obtrusive, his standing by her faithfully through a number of unpleasant
incidents, his quiet suit, which was declared indeed to her parents, but
which, as she was still very young, he did not press, only asking to be
allowed to hope--all this engaged him to her, and custom and the
assumption in the world that the thing was already settled carried her
along with it. She had so often been called his bride that at last she
began to consider herself so, and neither she nor any one else ever
thought any further trial could be necessary before she exchanged rings
with the person who for so long a time had passed for her bridegroom.

"The peaceful co