t in a sort of admiring pity of such a victim to an early sorrow;
so fair a creature robbed of her just meed of this world's happiness,
and by a terrible destiny linked with an awful event! And how lovely she
was through it all, how forgiving of that man's cruelty! He knew
Hawke well, and he was no stranger to the trials a woman must have gone
through who had been chained to his coarse and brutal nature; and yet
not a harsh word fell from her, not a syllable of reproach or blame. No;
she had all manner of excuses to make for him, in the evil influences
by which he was surrounded, the false and bad men who assumed to be his
friends.

It was quite touching to hear her allude to the happiness of their early
married life,--their contentment with humble fortune, their willing
estrangement from a world of luxury and display, to lead an existence
of cultivated pursuits and mutual affection. Winthrop was moved as he
listened, and Trover had to wipe his eyes.

Of the dreadful event of her life she skilfully avoided details,
dwelling only on such parts of it as might illustrate her own good
qualities, her devotion to the memory of one of whom she had much to
pardon, and her unceasing affection for his child. If the episode
of that girl's illness and death was only invented at the moment of
telling, it lost nothing by the want of premeditation; and Winthrop's
tears betrayed how he took to heart the desolate condition of that poor
bereaved woman.

"I had resolved," said she, "never to avail myself of this fortune.
To what end could I desire wealth? I was dead to the world. If enough
remained to support me through my lonely pilgrimage, I needed no more.
The simple life of these peasants here offered me all that I could now
care for, and it was in this obscure spot I meant to have ended my days,
unnoticed and unwept. My dear father, however, a distinguished officer,
whose services the Government is proud to acknowledge, had rashly
involved himself in some speculations; everything went badly with him,
and he finished by losing all that he had laid by to support his old
age. In this emergency I bethought me of that will; but even yet I
don't believe I should have availed myself of its provisions if it were
not that my father urged me by another and irresistible argument, which
was that in not asserting my own claim, I was virtually denying yours.
'Think of Winthrop,' said he. 'Why should he be defrauded of his
inheritance because yo