slower and slower. He forgot his weariness, and sat down before
the fire to think of one known but a few brief hours. If there are
those who can coolly predict "awful things" of the faithless and
godless, Hemstead was not one of them. The young girl who thought
him a good subject for jest and ridicule, he regarded with profound
pity. Her utter unconsciousness of danger had to him the elements
of deepest pathos.

While perplexed by contradictions in her manner and words, he
concluded that she was what she seemed, a girl of unusual force
of mind, frank and kindly, and full of noble impulses, but whose
religious nature was but slightly developed. He at that time would
have been shocked and indignant if he had known the truth. Her
natural tendencies had been good. Her positive nature would never
waver weakly along the uncertain boundary of good and evil, as was
the case with Bel Parton. She was one who would be decided and
progressive in one direction or the other, but now was clearly
on the sinister side of truth and moral loveliness. Surrounding
influences had been adverse. She had yielded to them, and they had
carried her farther astray than if she had been of a cautious and
less forceful temperament. While therefore full of good impulses,
she was also passionate and selfish. Much homage had made her
imperious, exacting, and had developed no small degree of vanity.
She exulted in the power and pre-eminence that beauty gave, and
often exerted the former cruelly, though it is due to her to state
that she did not realize the pain she caused. While her own heart
slept, she could not understand the aching disquiet of others that
she toyed with. That it was good sport, high-spiced excitment, and
occupation for her restless, active mind, was all she considered.
As she would never be neutral in her moral character, so she was