“‘You are pale this evening, Mr. Glenn,’ said Mrs. Arras, in a good-humoured, though bantering manner.  ’Are you subject to sudden attacks of illness?’

“’I assure you I never enjoyed better health in my life, and feel no symptoms of indisposition whatever,’ I replied, but at that moment I chanced to gaze at a mirror, and was startled at my haggard appearance.  But when Mrs. Arras withdrew, (which she did soon after my arrival,) the affable and lovely Laura banished every thought of my condition.  My wan cheek was soon animated with the flush of unbounded admiration, and my sunken eye sparkled with the effervescence of enraptured delight.  Deep and ineradicable passion was engendering in my bosom.  And from the pleasure indicated in the glitter of Laura’s lustrous eyes, the exquisite smile that dwelt upon her coral lips, and the gentle though unconscious swellings of her breast, a conviction thrilled through my soul that my sudden affection was reciprocated.  Hours flew like minutes, and I was surprised by the clock striking ONE before it occurred to me that it was time to depart.  Again I traversed the streets at that solemn hour, insensible to every feeling, and regardless of every object but the flaming torch lit up in my heart and the seraphic image of Laura.  At length I was warned by the scrutinizing gaze of a watchman to repair to my lodgings.  But my pillow afforded no rest.  All night long I pondered on the exhilarating events of the day.  Many were the endearing accents that escaped my lips as I addressed in fancy my beloved Laura.  I resolved to declare my passion ere many weeks should pass.  I began to settle in my mind the plans of life, and then, for the first time, the future presented a dark spot to my view.  I was poor!  Laura was rich and her family proud and aristocratic.  Her father was a distinguished judge.  And the most high-born and haughty of the land would doubtless (if they had not already) sigh at her feet!  I sprang upright on my couch when this discordant thought passed across my mind.  But the next moment I was consoled with the belief that I already possessed her heart.  And with a determination to have her, in spite of every obstacle, should this be the case, I sank back through weariness, and was soon steeped in deep, though unquiet slumber.

“The two next succeeding Sundays I attended Laura to church.  The evenings of both days, and nearly all the intervening ones, I was with her at the mansion of Mrs. Arras.  But the evening of the last Sunday was to me a memorable one.  That evening I opened all my heart to Laura, and found that every pulsation met a responding throb in hers—­such, at least, I believed to be the case—­and so she asserted.  During the short time she remained in New York, I was her accredited lover, and ever, when together, the attachment she manifested was as ardent as mine.  Indeed, at times, her passion seemed unbounded, and I was more than once tempted to propose a clandestine and immediate union.  I was the more inclined to this, inasmuch as her father (who had now returned from a trip to Washington) began to regard my visits with displeasure.  But he soon passed on to Boston to attend to the duties of his office, and again I had unrestrained access to Laura.  But I am dwelling too long on this part of my story.