Fanny made no reply.  She sat with her eyes resting on the ground, her lips slightly parted, and her cheeks of a paler hue.

“Can you see any truth in what I have been saying?” asked Mr. Allison, breaking in upon a longer pause than he had meant should follow his last remark.

“Oh, yes, yes; much truth.  A new light seems to have broken suddenly into my mind.”

“Men bear about them a spiritual as well as a natural sphere of their quality.”

“If there is a spiritual form, there must be a spiritual quality,” said Fanny, partly speaking to herself, as if seeking more fully to grasp the truth she uttered.

“And spiritual senses, as well, by which qualities may be perceived,” added Mr. Allison.

“Yes,—­yes.”  She still seemed lost in her own thoughts.

“As our bodily senses enable us to discern the quality of material objects, and thus to appropriate what is good, and reject what is evil; in like manner will our spiritual senses serve us, and in a much higher degree, if we will but make the effort to use them.”

“I see but darkly.  Oh! that my vision were clearer!” exclaimed the maiden, while a troubled expression slightly marred her beautiful face.

“Ever, my dear young friend,” said Mr. Allison, impressively, “be true to your native instincts.  They will quickly warn you, if evil approaches.  Oh! heed the warning.  Give no favourable regard to the man toward whom you feel an instinctive repulsion at the first meeting.  No matter what his station, connections, or personal accomplishments—­heed the significant warning.  Do not let the fascinations of a brilliant exterior, nor even ardent expressions of regard, make you for a moment forget that, when he first came near you, your spirit shrunk away, as from something that would do it harm.  If you observe such a man closely, weigh all that he does and says, when ardent in the pursuit of some desired object, you will not lack for more palpable evidences of his quality than the simple impression which the sphere of his life made at your first meeting.  Guarded as men are, who make an exterior different from their real quality, they are never able to assume a perfect disguise—­no more than a deformed person can so hide, by dress, the real shape, that the attentive eye cannot discern its lack of symmetry.  The eyes of your spirit see truths, as your natural eyes see material objects; and truths are real things.  There are true principles, which, if obeyed, lead to what is good; and there are false principles, which, if followed, lead to evil.  The one conducts to happiness, the other to inevitable misery.  The warning which another sense, corresponding with the perception of odours in the body, gives you of evil in a man, at his first approach, is intended to put you on your guard, and lead to a closer observation of the person.  The eyes of your understanding, if kept clear, will soon give you evidence as to his quality that cannot be gainsaid.  And, believe me, Fanny, though a slight acquaintance may seem to contradict the instinctive judgment, in nine cases out of ten the warning indication will be verified in the end.  Do you understand me?”