the gentler sex, had been somewhat loosened. In short, the young Misses
Fleming failed at all times to observe that degree of propriety which
should ever characterize the pure in heart, and were, by many, accused of
immorality. How far this accusation was true, we shall not attempt to say,
but, doubtless, there were not wanting many tongues to spread slanderous
reports.

In early years of womanhood, Eliza had given her affections to one who
sought her love under the guise of a "gentleman of fortune." He proved to
be what such characters usually are--a libertine, whose only motive in
seeking to win her confidence and young affections was to gratify his
hellish passions in the ruin of virtue and a good name. Under the most
solemn assurances of deep, abiding, unalterable love for her, and the most
solemn promises of marriage at an early day, which if he failed to perform,
the direst maledictions of heaven, and the most awful curses, were called
down upon his own head, even to the eternal consuming of his soul in the
flames of perdition, he succeeded in his design. Virtue was overcome, and
the jewel of purity departed from the heart of another of earth's
daughters. Vain were the tears of the repentant girl to induce a
performance of the promises so solemnly made; false had been and still were
the vows of the profligate; but he continued to make them all the more
profusely; and hope, at first unwavering, then fainter and fainter, filled
the heart of his victim. Once conquered, and the victory was ever after
comparatively easy; and having taken something of a fancy to this lady, he
was for a long time attached to her, and, in his way, remained faithful.

Such were the mutual relations sustained by these two toward each other,
when, one day, the betrayer entered the presence of the betrayed, and, in
some agitation, said: