d
in wedlock--what harm is there, I say, in recommending you another
husb--"

Susan would hear no more. She gathered up her stocking and ball of
thread, placed them in her apron, went into her father's house, shut and
bolted the door, and gave way to violent grief. All this occurred in a
moment, and Denis found himself excluded.

He did not wish, however, to part from her in anger; so, after having
attempted to look through the, keyhole of the door, and applied his eye
in vain to the window, he at length spoke.

"Is there any body within but yourself, Susy?"

He received no reply.

"I say, Susy--_dilecta juventutis meae_--touching the
recommendation--now don't be crying--touching the recommendation of
another husband, by all the classics that ever were mistranslated, I
meant nothing but the purest of consolation. If I did, may I be reduced
to primeval and aboriginal ignorance! But you know yourself, that they
never prospered who prevented a _rara avis_ like me from entering the
church--from laboring in the vineyard, and cultivating the grape. Don't
be hathenish; but act with a philosophy suitable to so dignified an
occasion--Farewell! _Macte virtute_, and be firm. I swear again by all
the class--"

The appearance of a neighbor caused him to cut short his oath. Seeing
that the man approached the house, he drew off, and returned home, more
seriously affected by Susan's agitation than he was willing to admit
even to himself.

This triumph over his affection was, in fact, only the conquest of
one passion over another. His attachment to Susan Connor was
certainly sincere, and ere the prospects of his entering Maynooth were
unexpectedly brought near him, by the interference of Father Finnerty,
his secret purpose all along had been to enter with her into the state
of matrimony, rather than into the church. Ambition, however, is beyond
all comparison the most powerful principle of human conduct, and so
Denny found it. Although his unceremonious abandonment of Susan appeared
heartless and cruel, yet it was not effected on his part without
profound sorrow and remorse. The two principles, when they began to
struggle in his heart for supremacy, resembled the rival destinies of
Caesar and Mark Antony. Love declined in the presence of ambition; and
this, in proportion as all the circumstances calculated to work upon
the strong imagination of a young man naturally fond of power, began to
assume an appearance of reality. To b