u have taken a vow of poverty?' He called it a
vow of poverty," said she, smiling through her tears, "since I wore no
better dress than this, nor tasted any food more delicate than the rough
fare of my peasant neighbors."

If the costume to which she thus directed their attention was simple, it
was eminently becoming, being, in reality, a sort of theatrical travesty
of a peasant's dress, made to fit perfectly, and admitting of a very
generous view of her matchless foot and ankle; insomuch, indeed, that
Mr. Winthrop could not help feeling that if poverty had its privations,
it could yet be eminently picturesque.

If Winthrop wished from time to time to ask some question about this, or
inquire into that, her answers invariably led him far afield, and made
him even forget the matter he had been eager about. A burst of emotion,
some suddenly recalled event, some long-forgotten passage brought back
to mind in a moment, would extricate her from any difficulty; and as to
dates,--those awful sunk rocks of all unprepared fiction,--how could she
be asked for these,--she, who really could not tell the very year they
were then living in, had long ceased to count time or care for its
onward course? There were things he did not understand; there were
things, too, that he could not reconcile with each other; but he could
not, at such a moment, suggest his doubts or his difficulties, nor be so
heartless as to weary that poor crushed and wounded spirit by prolonging
a scene so painful.

When he arose to take his leave, they were like old friends. With a
delicate tact all her own, she distinguished him especially from Mr.
Trover; and while she gave Winthrop both her hands in his, she bestowed
upon his companion a very cold smile and a courtesy.

"Are they gone,--positively gone?" asked she of her father, who now
entered the room, after having carefully watched the whole interview
from a summer-house with a spy-glass.

"Yes, dear; they are out on the road. I just overheard the American,
as he closed the wicket, remark, 'She's the most fascinating creature I
ever talked to!'"

"I hope I am, papa. When one has to be a serpent, one ought surely to
have a snake's advantages! What a dear old creature that American is!
I really have taken a great liking to him. There is a marvellous
attraction in the man that one can deceive without an effort, and, like
the sheep who come begging to be eaten, only implores to be 'taken in
again.'"

"I