“Not as I wished to be loved.  O aunt! what an escape I have made!  I look down the fearful gulf on the very brink of which my feet were arrested, and shudder to the heart’s core.  If he could take her, he never could have appreciated me.  Something more than maiden purity and virtue attracted him.  Ah! how could my instincts have been so at fault!”

“Dear child,” said Mrs. Waring, earnestly, “there can be no true love, as I have before said to you, without an appreciation of quality.  A fine person, agreeable manners, social position—­in a word, all external advantages and attractions are nothing, unless virtue be in the heart.  It is a man’s virtues that a woman must love, if she loves truly.  If she assumes the possession of moral wisdom, without undoubting evidence, she is false to herself.  To marry under such circumstances is to take a fearful risk.  Alas! how many have repented through a long life of wretchedness.  Can a true woman love a man who lacks principle—­who will sacrifice honour for a few paltry dollars—­who will debase himself for gain—­whose gross sensuality suffocates all high, spiritual love?  No! no!  It is impossible!  And she who unites herself with such a man, must either shrink, grovelling, down to his mean level, or be inconceivably wretched.”

Two years later, and results amply justified the timely interposition of Mrs. Waring, and demonstrated the truth of her positions.  Her beautiful, true-hearted niece has become the bride of a man possessing all the external advantages sought to be obtained by Mr. and Mrs. Lovering in the proposed marriage with Mr. Allen; and what is more and better, of one whose love of truth and goodness is genuine, and whose appreciation of his wife rests on a perception of her womanly virtues.  As years pass, and their knowledge of each other becomes more intimate, their union will become closer and closer, until affection and thought become so blended, that they will act in all their mutual life-relations as one.

Alas! how different it is already with Edward Allen and the woman he led to the altar, where each made false vows the one to the other.  There were no qualities to be loved; and to each, person and principles soon grew repellant.  Through sharp practices in business, Allen is rapidly adding to the fortune already acquired by trade and marriage; but, apart from the love of accumulation, which keeps his mind active and excited during business hours, he has no pleasure in life.  He does not love the woman who presides in his elegant home, and she affects nothing in regard to him.  They only tolerate each other for appearance sake.  Sometimes, Fanny Lovering, now Mrs.——­, meets them in public; but never without an almost audibly breathed “Thank God, that I am not in her place!” as her eyes rest upon the countenance of Allen, in which evil and selfish purposes have already stamped their unmistakable meanings.

Blessing of A good Deed.