But upon this occasion she steeled her heart against all supplication.  It was the first time she had ever turned from the entreaty of old age or infirmity; and those only who have lived in the habitual practice of administering to the happiness of others can conceive how much it costs the generous heart to resist even the weaknesses of those it loves.  But Mary felt she had already sacrificed too much to affection, and she feared the reproaches and ridicule that awaited her return to Beech Park.  She therefore gently, though steadily, adhered to her resolution, only softening it by a promise of returning soon.

“What an angel goes there!” exclaimed Mrs. Lennox to her son, as Mary left the room to prepare for her departure.  “Ah!  Charles, could I but hope to see her yours!”

Colonel Lennox smiled—­“That must be when I am an angel myself then.  A poor weather-beaten soldier like me must be satisfied with something less.”

“But is she not a lovely creature?” asked his mother, with some solicitude.

“Angels, you know, are always fair,” replied Colonel Lennox laughingly, trying to parry this attack upon his heart.

“Ah!  Charles, that is not being serious.  But young people now are different from what they were in my day.  There is no such thing as falling in love now, you are all so cautious.”

And the good old lady’s thoughts reverted to the time when the gay and gallant Captain Lennox had fallen desperately in love with her, as she danced a minuet in a blue satin sacque and Bologna hat at a county ball.

“You forget, my dear mother, what a knack I had in falling in love ten years ago.  Since then, I confess I have got rather out of the way of it; but a little, a very little practice, I am sure, will make me as expert as ever;—­and then I promise you shall have no cause to complain of my caution.”

Mrs. Lennox sighed and shook her head.  She had long cherished the hope that if ever her son came home it would be to fall in love with and marry her beloved Mary; and she had dwelt upon this favourite scheme till it had taken entire possession of her mind.  In the simplicity of her heart she also imagined that it would greatly help to accelerate the event were she to suggest the idea to her son, as she had no doubt but that the object of her affections must necessarily become the idol of his.  So little did she know of human nature that the very means she used to accomplish her purpose were the most effectual she could have contrived to defeat it.  Such is man, that his pride revolts from all attempts to influence his affections.  The weak and the undiscerning, indeed, are often led to “choose love by another’s eyes;” but the lofty and independent spirit loves to create for itself those feelings which lose half their charms when their source is not in the depths of their own heart.