professed to be his friend. He had watched his pliable nature, had
studied the resources of his parents, knew their kindness, felt sure
of his prey while abetting the downfall. Causing him to perpetrate
the crime, from time to time, he would incite him with prospects of
retrieve, guide his hand to consummate the crime again, and watch
the moment when he might reap the harvest of his own infamy. Thus,
when he had brought the young man to that last pitiless issue, where
the proud heart quickens with a sense of its wrongs-when the mind
recurs painfully to the past, imploring that forgiveness which seems
beyond the power of mankind to grant, he left him a poor outcast,
whose errors would be first condemned by his professed friends. That
which seemed worthy of praise was forgotten, his errors were
magnified; and the seducer made himself secure by crushing his
victim, compromising the respectability of his parents, making the
disgrace a forfeiture for life.

Unexpected as the shock was to Marston, he bore it with seeming
coolness, as if dreading the appearance of the man who had taken
advantage of the moment to bring him under obligations, more than he
did the amount to be discharged. Arising from the table, he took
Lorenzo by the hand, saying:--"Veil your trouble, Lorenzo! Let the
past be forgotten, bury the stigma in your own bosom; let it be an
example to your feelings and your actions. Go not upon the world to
wrestle with its ingratitude; if you do, misfortune will befall
you-you will stumble through it the remainder of your life. With me,
I fear the very presence of the man who has found means of
engrafting his avarice upon our misfortunes; he deals with those in
his grasp like one who would cut the flesh and blood of mankind into
fragments of gain. Be firm, Lorenzo; be firm! Remember, it is not
the province of youth to despair; be manly-manliness even in crime