hypocrisy, his only superior was Mrs. Harris. He the thought that his affection for herself was weakened. was very familiar with polite literature, and had al-She was conscious in her own breast of such a wealth of ways an abundance of news, which made him what devotion to him, that judging of his feelings by her own, ladies call a right charming fellow. He was more showy than Tyler, and perhaps generally more agreeable as a companion. There was this difference between them: The one had read a great deal, but thought very little; the other was a man more fond of communing with his own thoughts than those of others. The one had read more from a desire to pass with the crowd as a man of parts; the other looked upon knowledge as a sacred spring, and felt too much reverence for the holy fountain to let its bubbles flash up incessantly to win the admiration of the common herd. The one was calculated to be caressed by the many and despised by the few; the other to be cherished by the few and overlooked, not despised, by the many. Roberts had a ready selfconceit that gave him, in his own opinion, a high place in the estimation of others; Tyler, on the other hand, had a distressing humility that made him think others as blind to his real merits as he was himself. she would as soon have thought the needle false to the pole, as to have indulged the suspicion, that she had ceased to be his cynosure. She saw that he was attentive to Sarah, and only loved him the better for his politeness; and as to the attentions of Walter, they were even disagreeable to her-not that she suspected them to be designing, but because to one of her nature the attentions of any one, beside the one, would be unsatisfying. Yet she would laugh and chat with him as freely, as if he were entitled to the greatest intimacy; for she was so perfectly artless and innocent, that it would have done her as much annoyance to suspect another, as to be herself suspected. Not so with Tyler-and for the simple reason, because he was a man. Men are, naturally, more jealous than women, because they are, naturally, less constant. He was moreover, as we have said before, of an humble disposition, and when he reasoned with himself he felt rather surprised that Dorcas had found any thing at all in him to admire, than that she manifested a superior admiration for another. Yet when they were alone, with no eye to gaze on them, she would pour out to guile him insensibly from his despondency. But when the succeeding day would bring with it the unwelcome form of Roberts, who had become enamored to distrac tion of Dorcas, he would fall back again upon his own gloomy thoughts, unless when piqued to make himself as agreeable as possible to Sarah. Mrs. Harris saw the state of his mind, and was rather at fault to perceive nothing like it in Dorcas. A great mind may thoroughly comprehend a little one, but a little mind can never understand a great one. Mrs. Harris had the right theory in regard to the every-day characters we meet with; but Dorcas Adelmar was as far above these, as the heavens are higher than the earth. She was as infinitely remote from every petty jealousy as the east is from the west, and she could not possibly have been aroused to discover any impropriety in the attentions of Tyler to Sarah. He was happy, and that was enough for her. Mrs. Harris soon learned better than to make any unguarded attempts with this Roberts, on his visits to Bellevue, was generally accompanied by his sister-a young lady who embodied many of the follies and a few of the virtues of her sex. Mrs. Harris, during their riding and walking excursions, invariably managed it that Miss Roberts should be un-him such fond tokens of tenderness, that she would beder the charge of Tyler, while Dorcas was handed over to the charge of Roberts himself. This part of the plot was the more easy to be effected, because Roberts on a party of pleasure, would not of course be expected to gallant his own sister, any more than would Tyler to devote himself exclusively to those of his own household. So that indeed it was hardly necessary for Mrs. Harris to interpose her agency here, for matters went on just as she wished, without her interference. This was an art of hers. She had a most profound knowledge of human nature, especially of its weaknesses,-for of these she had a chart within herself-and she knew exactly when it was necessary for her to come forward with her open influence, and exactly when it was necessary for her to remain behind the curtain and pull the string in secret. She knew the fascinations of both the Roberts'; she knew that Walter was the directly opposite of Tyler, and Sarah equally so of Dorcas; and therefore that any partiality shown by Dorcas to Walter would be as grating to Tyler, as any par-design; for, if she was in this one instance too blind to tiality manifested by himself to Sarah would be unpleasant to Dorcas; because naturally if one person seems partial to the known opposite of another person, his regard for the latter of the two is supposed to be proportionally weakened. This was the reasoning of Mrs. Harris, and she knew that the golden chain of sympathy once broken, her triumph would be complete. She would therefore take occasion to incite the coquetry of Sarah, by imploring her not to make such sad havoc of her nephew's heart, and would have treated Walter in the same way, but as she saw he was sufficiently bent on taking the castle for himself, she only threw out occasional hints of encouragement. see, she was too prudent not to feel her way. She soon found out where she could direct her exertions to the best advantage, and accordingly began with Tyler. She observed him one day when his countenance was sad, and having withdrawn with him, she sat for some time with her hands folded and her eyes bent downwards. At last she said— "Tyler, my dear son, do I love you?" "Yes, my aunt; I can believe that you love me, though I doubt all the world besides.” "And my dear boy, does the world contain any in whom you have a right to trust, yet whom you are forced to doubt ?" "Aunt!" In the meantime she was to Dorcas the tenderest of mothers. She ingratiated herself thoroughly in her "Nay, Tyler, my own son, I cannot see grief workconfidence, and used many unobserved arts to drawing its way through your heart without feeling a corforth her feelings in reference to the attentions of Tyler respondent emotion in my own. to Sarah Roberts. But Dorcas was a high-souled,queen- secrets. My dear boy, let me ly girl, and seemed to cherish not even for a moment ten your marriage with Dorcas. We need not talk in entreat you to hasShe is a dear, good girl, Tyler, and you may never meet with such another, [ for my spiritual good, and it is but just that I should be should you lose her." punished with the frowns of my idol. Yet oh! that some milder instrument of punishment had been mercifully adopted." “Aunt, you have been to me a mother, and in this have proved yourself more than a mother; but do not be offended that I follow not your advice-I reject it simply because there seems to be a necessity for its being given. What I have felt and do feel I can never express, but the reason you give for hastening our marriage shall be to me a reason for deferring it; and if in the meantime Dorcas is confirmed in her attatchment to Roberts, I will release her from her engagement, though the act should release my soul from my body." Mrs. Harris gazed upon him as he left the room, and hardly waited for him to get out of hearing before she exclaimed triumphantly "Why, the very fates are in my favor! It could not possibly have turned out so, unless, they had interfered. But to improve advantages-ah! here comes Dorcas! the very thing!" When Tyler left the room, he walked moodily down stairs, and met Dorcas in the hall. "Oh!" said she, running gaily up to him, "I have just been out to walk, and I met Mr. Roberts, and he said he would ride with us to-morrow-but, dear Tyler! what is the matter?" "Nothing; I have a headache, and was going out to enjoy the fresh air." "You will let me go with you?" "No, Dorcas; I had rather be alone. I shall return soon." She gazed at him as he went out, and stood motionless. It came upon her like a torrent, that he had more than once of late spoken to her coolly, and the thought bewildered her. She looked up toward heaven, and exclaimed, "Father, look upon me;" and then turning, said to herself, "I have but one mother to go to, and God be thanked, she is not only a temporal but a spiritual adviser." With this confidence she sought her-temporal and spiritual adviser!' Tyler took refuge from the approach of intruders in the solitude of a neighboring grove. "Why," mused he, "should I repine, that Dorcas has transferred her affections to one so much better calculated to make her happy? It is true he cannot love her more, yet he can not help loving her as much as I do; for, love for such an angel is an irresistible impulse as involuntary as obedience to fate. She loved me, because she was grateful to me; and shall I make her gratitude the plea of insisting on an alliance that is disagreeable to her? What have I done for her that the most iron-hearted would not have been glad to do-and is not the fact of my having benefitted her, the dearest consolation of my life? It is I who ought to be grateful for the opportunities afforded me of being of service to her; and shall I make her pay so dearly for what has been my own gratification, as to force her to give her hand to me when her heart is another's? Perish the thought! and if I cannot have the joy of possessing her, give me at least the consciousness of having nobly resigned her.” Dorcas, with a heavy heart, entered her aunt's chamber, and throwing herself into her arms, poured out to her the source of her grief. "My dear daughter," said Mrs. Harris, "it is our duty to take meekly the chastenings of our Heavenly Father." "Be patient, my dear," said Mrs. Harris encouragingly; "it is but the infirmity of men to be jealous. His suspicions will soon die away of themselves, and then you will again be happy." "Ma'am?" "Do not take it to heart: it is only a passing whim. He feels hurt, it is true, because he thinks you manifest a partiality for Roberts; but believe me, my dear, the feeling will be but transient. In the meantime it perhaps might be as well to be a little less pointed in your manner towards Roberts. You know we are commanded to feel for each other's infirmities." The words of Mrs. Harris drove away every tear from the eye of Dorcas, who, rising in her own simple native dignity, said: "I do know it, aunt; but I cannot help Tyler bear a burden that implicates my own honor. Walter Roberts has entitled himself to my esteem, and I have but treated him as he deserves to be treated. If Tyler is offended that I reciprocate the attention and courtesy of your visiters, I must submit to lie under his displeasure-though it be my sorest trial, next to the frowns of my Maker. I trust, though called upon to endure those of the one, I shall not be visited with those of the other; and though my heart be wrung by the reproaches of its best beloved, it will still be enlivened with the peace of conscience." "I leave you, dear Dorcas, to your own meditations. Look to Him who is the strength of the weak, and the helper of the helpless." As Mrs. Harris closed the door behind her, she clasped her hands together, and exclaimed in a low voice, though from the bottom of her heart-"Good!" "And has it come to this ?" sighed Dorcas bitterly, as she cast herself on the bed. Slighted, despised, suspected by the idol of my bosom! I could bear his frowns-but his suspicions!" and here the poor girl wept as if her heart would break. Mrs. Harris had rightly conjectured. Dorcas was a proud, high-souled girl, and supposed others as free from guile as herself. But to be suspected! this, if any thing, could force her to fear that she was not beloved; and she said, sorrowfully, "oh! had he felt for me as I do for him, he never could have believed me so unworthy his regard ;" and with this thought she rang the bell, and sent for her aunt to come to her immediately. She was in tears when Mrs. Harris entered the room, but drying them, she said, "mother, do you think if Tyler had loved me as he ought, he would have acted so towards me?" "My child," said Mrs. Harris, "do not ask me." "But are you not my only adviser ?" "I know I am, my dear, and this alone forces me to confess that as much as my heart has been set upon your union with him, yet I have been forced to entertain fears, when I have observed his very apparent partiality for Sarah Roberts. I have loved him from his cradle, but though he were in truth my own son, I would cast him off forever, should he prove himself ca. "I know it, my dear mother, but my heart will rebel.pable of such perfidy." Tyler has been my all in all. I have loved him too well! "Say not so, dear aunt; he has known me under pe culiar circumstances, when his sympathies were all alive, and these may have prompted his affection for me. But why should I hope that he is the same now? The circumstances that gave birth to his feelings have been buried in the past, and it is but natural that his feelings should have been buried with them. What claims have I upon him? It is he who has claims upon me, and gratitude alone should prevent in me a desire to interfere with his happiness. I will write to him and tell him so." "You had better not be too hasty," said Mrs. Harris, affectionately. "We may be wrong, though I fear we are but too right. But let me watch for you, and you may depend upon my faithfulness. Besides, should you thus write to him, you would make yourself liable to misconstruction, especially if our fears are correct. In the meantime, my dear, act with the same high-minded propriety as ever. Appear not too anxious by altering your due treatment of Mr. Roberts, and be assured that if Tyler's feelings toward you are of the proper stamp, they will compel him to be the one to make the becoming overtures." "Bless you, my mother, for this and for every thing else. I will show my sense of your judgment by following your advice, and of your affection by repaying it with my warmest gratitude." That evening, Dorcas from a sense of duty, treated Tyler with as much cordiality, as his coldness and her own wounded sensibility would admit of. The next morning when Walter called, she cheerfully complied with her engagement, but her heart did faint within her, when Tyler said that he believed he would stay at home, if Sarah would consent to remain with him and look at some pictures. She of course gladly consented. advice the better. I can endure any thing but this suspense, and will start to-morrow." "Dorcas," said Mrs. Harris, when they were holding their nightly consultation a little before bed-time, "I am grieved to tell you, but have you not observed Tyler to be unusually gloomy since Sarah's departure?" "I have." "You will be less surprised then when I tell you that to-morrow he leaves for Paris, and, as I strongly suspect, by a previous arrangement between themselves." "I am by my fears prepared for the worst, as I am by your counsel and by heavenly assistance fortified to bear it. There are but a few dregs remaining in my cup of bitterness, and these I am prepared to drink." "Bid him farewell affectionately; and I cannot advise you to hint a word to him about the past, present, or future." "Mother! I am a woman-and trust me, not wanting in a woman's pride." "I can trust you, my dear; but it is late-shall we not to bed?" "Yes, but I fear not to sleep-good night,” and kissing her, she left the room. "Not to sleep! no! but it will not be long before I shall sleep and that soundly. Revenge they say is a sweet pillow for the soul to rest upon, and I'll have it !” Not long after this, Sarah wrote to her brother that she had been very agreeably surprised by Tyler's arrival in Paris; that he had been devotedly attentive to her, and that she had every reason to expect daily an offer of his hand. Roberts, overjoyed, communicated the intelligence to Mrs. Harris, who mused upon it for sometime and inquired, "What then is to become of Dorcas ?" Walter replied, "if I might hope, my dear madam, that you and she would permit me to supply his place! especially since my own sister has captivated her The reader's imagination can easily supply to itself how matters went on for several days subsequent to this event. The breach became gradually wider and wider. Tyler endeavored to stifle his emotions by being par-swain." ticularly attentive to Sarah, and Roberts had become more than ever enamored of Dorcas. Mrs. Harris looked at him steadfastly a moment and replied, "Mr. Roberts, I have noticed Dorcas and Tyler, About two weeks after the ride, Sarah rode up has- from the beginning. I have always been fully satisfied tily to Bellevue, and running into the parlor, said to that they were not intended for each other. I love her Dorcas, "do throw aside that sober look for just one well enough, but I love him better; and, really, Mr. Rominute, while I tell you the best news in the world.berts, between ourselves, (we understand each other?) My uncle has just written to me, that a large party of I am not sorry that he has thought better of it-particupleasure is about leaving London for Paris, and that I must come on and go with them under his protection. I am to start immediately, and have ridden over but for one minute to say good-bye. So here it is-good-bye. But where is Tyler? ah! there he is ;" and kissing the party farewell, she ran out of the house to meet him coming up the avenue. Dorcas felt sick at heart as she saw him turn his horse to accompany her home. larly, since he has been convinced of his folly by a girl of such tried worth as your sister. While then I shall be glad to second your inclinations, I will not attempt to force those of Dorcas. I will see her myself; convince her that she has nothing to hope from Tyler, and in two days from now you may call upon her yourself." There is an old story of two sharpers who met, and by appearing each to each the most simple hearted of beings, cheated each other out of five hundred dollars apiece. Somewhat after the same sort was the game now to be played by Mrs. Harris and Roberts. Each had to affect the utmost disinterestedness and simplicity, and each put every art in play to make a tool of the other. We shall see how they succeeded. "I have been thinking, Tyler," said his aunt, one day, when they were conversing on the subject, "that you would have a better opportunity of really testing the attachment of Dorcas, by going away from home for a short time, and leaving her entirely unrestrained. Ardently as I desire your union, I cannot consent to it at the expense of your happiness. Suppose then you make a short trip to the continent-say to Paris, and Soon after the departure of Roberts, Martha came in the meantime Roberts can develope his intentions, into the room and walked listlessly up to the glass, with and Dorcas feel at full liberty to pursue her own incli- the ostensible design of arranging her ringlets; but as nations. I know you desire to act honorably." these were already in perfect order, we may charitably "You are right, aunt; and the sooner I follow your suppose that there was some person in the glass whom she felt inclined to call upon. She took one finger and lightly, very lightly, touching here and there a curl, said, while thus engaged, to her mother, Seated by a writing desk, in one of the splendid hotels in Paris, Tyler was inditing a letter to his aunt. Soon," mused he, casting his pen on the table, "will my fate be decided. Roberts will take advantage of my absence to offer her his hand, and she shall not know the struggle it costs me to give her up." Resuming his pen, he wrote that Paris was the most delightful place in the world; that he was enjoying himself highly, and that he need not be expected home until after a certain event had happened, (meaning the marriage of Dorcas and Roberts); in conclusion, he begged to be remembered to Martha, Dorcas, and his mother. The letter he enclosed in a blank envelope, "What did Mr. Roberts want, mother? Didn't he ask to see me? As soon as I saw him coming, I took the papers out of my hair and dressed myself, and waited for him to send for me; but when I saw he didn't, I thought I would come down any how, and see what you were talking about. But he has gone, and I have had all my trouble for nothing. Did he say nothing about me-not even ask how I was? I think he might." "He came over, my dear, to tell me that Tyler and Sarah are going to be married." "Why, mother, I thought you said I might have and the day after the conversation of Dorcas and her Tyler ?" "I used to tell you so to keep you quiet when you were a little girl, but only then. Since the Lord opened my eyes, I think it wrong for first cousins to marry." “But, mother, good people often marry their first cousins, and I don't see why I can't have Tyler. He's handsome, mother." "We should feel it our duty to set a better example, and then, may be, they will not do it any more. But go and call Dorcas; she will feel more interested in the matter than you do, for you know she and Tyler were to be married." “Well, if she wants Tyler, she may have him, for she is so good. But Sarah Roberts shall not, because I want him myself;" and, so saying, she went up stairs | and told Dorcas to go down and tell her mother that Sarah should not have Tyler; "for," said she, "a letter has just come from Europe, I mean from France, that says they are going to be married. But, la! how queer you look! I am sorry-are not you?” With an aching heart, Dorcas sought her aunt, and found her ready to confirm her worst fears. After having played about with her victim, and fully satisfied her that there was no hope, Mrs. Harris, and to provide for herself a plausible way of escape in case of accident, affected to turn consoler. She was careful, however, to delay her hypocritical conversation, until there was no hope of its being received. aunt, it arrived at Bellevue. Mrs. Harris, herself, read it to Dorcas; admitted the clause in relation to a certain event to be "confirmation strong as proofs of holy writ;" and wound up her torture by commending her "dear, forsaken daughter" to the favor and protection of the Almighty; vowing that if she was not to see Tyler before the certain event, she would not see him after it-for he should never cross her threshold as the husband of Sarah Roberts. Her aim, her horrid aim, was to drive Dorcas to the commission of-suicide! She had never an idea of that mental and moral greatness, that borrows vigor from being trampled on, and distils energy from despair. On the day following, Roberts, trembling with anxiety, called upon Dorcas. Heartless libertine as he was, he had felt how powerful is the holy alliance between virtue and beauty. He had been accustomed to look upon the sex as decorated wax-dolls, made solely for the convenience of man, and subject to his caprice. But a new light had broken in upon him; he had been brought under influences to which he had ever before scorned at the idea of being subjected: but the same soulless hypocrisy-the same unscrupulousness as to means, was still identified with his existence. He found Dorcas buried in thought by the parlor fire. As he approached she rose, and extending him her hand, endeavored to veil her emotions under the semblance of cordiality. Now and then a faint smile would wander over her features, but it so belied her heart that she could with difficulty restrain it from being followed by a gush of tears. They, for awhile, con "Cheer up, Dorcas," said she; "you know Sarah is, like all girls, fond of making conquests, and her natural desires may have led her to attach more importance to the attentions of Tyler than he actually designed. Per-versed familiarly on their usual topics; but Roberts haps, too, he only has devoted himself a great deal to her that he might forget his suspicious jealousies." This last was artfully brought in, and Mrs. Harris well knew the effect it would have upon Dorcas. "I love you tenderly, aunt, for your attempt to pour oil on my wounds; but I have no hope of their being closed, until closed by death. It is not his attentions to Sarah, so much as his suspicions of me, that has given me up to despair. Had he loved, he could never have doubted me." "Well, my dear, if clouds are about you, you know who sent them; and knowing who sent them, you know where to seek light amid your darkness." "And I will seek that light," said Dorcas, gratefully. "And I will not forget to thank Him that I have one to remind me whence our help cometh." "Know, who sent them!" said Mrs. Harris scornfully to herself. "She knows not that! but she shall know it." endeavored, step by step, to bring the conversation nearer home, until he made her an open avowal of his love and an unqualified offer of his hand. Had a thunderbolt fallen from Heaven, it could not have shocked more utterly the heart of Dorcas. But, poor girl! thunderbolts had fallen-and they had so accustomed her to endurance, that the present shock was but one among the many. She had learned in the school of affliction to command her feelings, and rising from her chair, she said, with an ice-like calmness "Mr. Roberts, we have met too often. I admire you as a man, and esteem you as a friend, but we meet not again;" and when he awoke from the trance into which her words had thrown him, he found himself alone. It may seem unnatural that Dorcas, during all this time, had fallen so unwarily into the snares that were spread for her. But it must be remembered that she was a perfect child of nature. She had been nurtured in a distant land, where her father and mother, sensible VOL. V.-8 of the dissipations of East-Indian society, had kept her secluded from it, lest she might yield to its enchantments. And here, we may observe, is one great error of parents. Fearing lest their children may become victims to the world, instead of giving them an early knowledge of its temptations, and at the same time instructing them by example and precept how to avoid them, they immure them in ignorant solitude, believing that the mechanical principles here acquired, will avail them when removed from their own influence. Hence they have no trials of faith to work out patience; no gifts of patience to work out experience; no treasures of experience to enliven them with hope. The consequences of disagreeable follies have never taught them discretion they have no knowledge of human nature to guard them against its deceits: their whole minority has been passed in the nursery, and when they leave its walls, their minds are the same unlettered, blank sheet, as when their eyes first opened on the darkened light of Heaven. The result is, that where one such, by a happy combination of circumstances, is saved from destruction, thousands become the slaves of the vicious, the victims of the vile, or the dupes of the artful. Recovering from his stupor, Roberts exclaimed, "Rejected! Meet not again!' But we do meet again, and that speedily." As he uttered this, Mrs. Harris, who had been awaiting, feverishly, the termination of their interview, entered the room: "Well," said she, advancing towards him; "What said my pretty bird? But what!-downcast ?-dejected? Not nay, surely?" "Even so, madam;" and here he disclosed the decided conduct of Dorcas. "You opened your attack too soon," said Mrs. Harris, who had now struck upon a new vein, and thought if Dorcas could be forced to marry Roberts, her ends would be accomplished, though her malice would not be so completely gratified. "We have but yesterday received certain intelligence, (or directly implied, if not certain,) that Tyler and Sarah are to be married before their return, and she has not yet recovered from the shock. When she hears that they are actually married as she doubtless will in a day or two-you will find her less impregnable ;" and here she handed him Tyler's letter, with the envelope, telling him to read it at his leisure. She had given him his clue, and knowing her man, was just as well aware what he would do with that envelope, as if the future was already before her. He took the letter, put it in his hat, and before he was on his horse, his plan was fixed. Going immediately home, he, by the aid of the letter in his possession, counterfeited Tyler's hand-writing-wrote that the marriage ceremony having already been performed, the couple would be home in a week. This letter he enclosed in the envelope which Mrs. Harris had given him, of which he had contrived to alter the date of the post-mark, and, three days after, dropped it into the letter-box of the neighboring post office. When Mrs Harris received it, knowing well the source whence it came, she went immediately to Mrs. Ethelwaite, and commenced in her usual way: "Mrs. Ethelwaite, you are my own husband's sister." The poor woman, well aware what was coming, sat trembling in her chair, and simply faltered out, "You know, Mrs. Ethelwaite, I have kept that ugly secret of your's well-too well, I fear, for my eternal happiness; for you know, as the Bible says, the partaker is as bad as the thief: I must now disclose itand, first of all, to Tyler." She saw her sister was fainting, and handing her the camphor bottle, said, "Come, come; it is not time to faint yet. Do you want me to tell him?" "Great heaven! No!" "Well, listen to me, Mrs. Ethelwaite. That boy of yours was my darling hope. I meant him to marry my Martha, and he as much as promised me he would. He went to India, and there fell in love with that viper, and had the impudence to write and tell me of it. But he shall not marry her-I swear it; and you are to help me prevent him.” แ But, sister, he is going to marry Sarah Roberts." "It's a lie! and it's all my doings. I estranged him from Dorcas-I sent him to France-I started the report—I shall soon say he is already married, and at your peril you are not to deny it-nay, you are to affirm it, if called upon." "But, sister, I cannot tell a lie." "Very well-I then can tell the truth!" She cast on her a scowl of the blackest malignity, and seemed about turning away. Mrs. Ethelwaite imploringly raised her hand. "Your hand is up. Swear by it then, as you hope for peace, that you are mine, to do my pleasure." She signified her assent. "Well, then, have done with your folly. Your secret is yet with me-how long, depends upon yourself;" and so saying, she went in search of Dorcas. "My dear girl, I did not think to be, so soon, the bearer of such unpleasant tidings--Tyler and Sarah are married-the heartless ingrate! Here is the seal of his perfidy ;" and she read the letter. Dorcas received its contents with a dumb, lifeless grief, as if the fountain of her soul was already frozen. Both sat in silence, till Mrs. Harris said, "Dorcas, be a woman! I would not advise you to your harm-but, be a woman! I feel my own nature outraged with yours. Consult your dignity, and if another inducement is necessary, save Tyler the remorse of having broken your heart." "How?" "You know Mr. Roberts--he is dying for you. Save his life and your own by marrying him. Be spirited!" "My own life is of no consequence. I have another way of ending my griefs than that. Marry him! marry any body!--no body but death!" Mrs. Harris thought a moment-" perhaps she means to; better!" and then said, "well my own child, I only advised you as a woman. Now let me advise you as a christian. Remember!" and here she pointed heavenwards, and left her. She saw Roberts, and told him there was no hope; Dorcas w uld die soon-and begged him to say nothing more about it. But he was not one to be so easily baffled. Dorcas remained half alive and half dead, until the day before Tyler was said to be expected. Mrs. Harris arose every morning with the hope that she had destroyed herself; and her first demand of the servant was to |