guile as any daisy with its eye turned to the sun, led me to ask,
"What right have you to approach such a creature? Think of her needs,
of her being first, and not your own. Would you drag her into the
turmoil of your world because she would be a solace? Would you disturb
the maidenly serenity of that brow with knowledge of evil and misery,
the nightly record of which you have collated so long that you are
callous? You, whose business it is to look behind the scenes of life,
will you disenchant her also? It is your duty to unmask hypocrisy, and
to drag hidden evil to light, but will you teach her to suspect and
distrust? Should you not yourself become a better, truer, purer man
before you look into the clear depths of her blue eyes? Beware, lest
thoughtlessly or selfishly you sully their limpid truth."

"If she could be God's evangel to me, I might indeed be a better man,"
I murmured.

"That is ever the way," suggested Conscience; "there is always an 'if'
in the path of duty; and you make your change for the better depend on
the remote possibility that yonder maiden will ever look on you as
other than a casual stranger that caused a slight disturbance in the
wonted placidity of their meeting hour."

"Hush," I answered Conscience, imperiously; "since the old Friend lady
will not preach, I shall endure none of your homilies. I yield myself
to the influences of this day, and during this hour no curb shall be
put on fancy. In my soul I know that I would be a better man if she is
what she seems, and could be to me all that I have dreamed; and were I
tenfold worse than I am, she would be the better for making me better.
Did not Divine purity come the closest to sinful humanity? I shall
approach this maiden in fancy, and may seek her in reality, but it