hension of receiving personal injury from
these ghostly night-walkers, for if they wished to harm me, they could
have done so last night. Hereafter, my maid shall sleep in my chamber
with me; I shall place a dagger under my pillow, with which to defend
myself in case of any attempted injury or outrage--and I shall await the
coming of my spectral friend with feelings of mingled dread and
pleasure.'

'I am delighted to hear you say so,' rejoined the old gentleman, as he
surveyed the animated countenance and fine form of the courageous woman
with admiration. In truth, Julia looked very charming that morning; she
was dressed in voluptuous _dishabille_, which partially revealed a bust
whose luxurious fullness and exquisite symmetry are rarely equalled by
the divine creations of the sculptor's art.

'She is very beautiful,' thought the old gentleman; and the sluggish
current of his blood began to course thro' his veins with something of
the ardor of youth.

Mr. Hedge was a wealthy old bachelor;--and like the majority of
individuals, who belong to that class, he adored pretty women, but had
always adored them _at a distance_. To him, woman was a divinity; he
bowed at her shrine, but dared not presume to taste the nectar of her
lips, or inhale the perfume of her sighs. He had always regarded such
familiarity as a type of sacrilege. But now, seated _tete-a-tete_ with
that charming creature, and feasting his eyes upon her voluptuous
beauty, his awe of the divinity merged into a burning admiration of the
woman.

Julia knew that Mr. Hedge was rich. 'He admires me,' thought she,--'he
is old, but wealthy; I will try to fascinate him, and if he desires me
to become either his wife or mistress, I will consent, for a connection
with him would be to my pecuniary advantage.'

And she _did_ fascinate him, as much by her sparkling wit and graceful
discourse, as by her charms of person. She related to him a very
pleasing little fiction entirely the offspring of her own fertile
imagination, which purported to be a history of her own past life. She
stated that she was the widow of an English gentleman; she had recently
come to America, and had but few acquaintances, and still fewer friends;
she felt the loneliness of her situation, and admitted that she much
desired a friend to counsel and protect her; the adroit adventuress
concluded her extemporaneous romance by adroitly insinuating that her
income was scarcely adequate to her respecta