Alice stole away to her chamber; and the happy stranger to wander among
the shrubs, regardless of the damp and chill.
Here were two young hearts conscious of happiness; but was it a
happiness derived from the respective merits and congenial natures of
the two known to each other? They were comparatively strangers, knowing
little of the antecedents of each other. Each was unhappily
situated--the one from poverty, the other owing to her wealth; the one
ardently desirous of bettering pecuniarily his position, the other to
release herself from restraints that were tyrannical and to enjoy that
independence which she felt was her natural right. Might not these
considerations override the purer impulses of the heart arising from
that regard for qualities which win upon the mind until ripened first
into deep respect, then mellowed into tender affection by association
protracted and intimate? They had been reared in societies radically
different: their early impressions were equally antagonistic; but their
aims were identical--to escape from present personal embarrassments.
Pages:
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655