exclaimed almost aloud: "Nonsense! Can it be even imagined that she,
besieged by the most gifted and rich of the city, will wait for a poor
unknown admirer? Mr. Mellen, I understand, approaches her from every
vantage-ground save that of a noble character; but in the fashionable
world how little thought is given to this draw back!" and in his
perturbation he strode rapidly and aimlessly on, finding some relief
in mere physical activity.

Suddenly his hasty steps ceased, and even in the dusk of the street
his face gleamed out distinctly, so great was its pallor. Like a ray
of light, a passage from the Word of God revealed to him his situation
in a new aspect. It seemed to him almost that some one had whispered
the words in his ear, so distinctly did they present themselves--"Be
ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers."

Slowly and painfully he said to himself, as if recognizing the most
hopeless barrier that had yet been dwelt upon, "Christine Ludolph is
an infidel."

Not only the voice of reason, and of the practical world, but also the
voice of God seemed to forbid his love; and the conviction that he
must give it all up became a clear as it was painful. The poor fellow
leaned his head against the shaggy bark of an elm in a shadowy square
which the street-lamps could but faintly penetrate. The night wind
swayed the budding branches of the great tree, and they sighed over
him as if in sympathy.

The struggle within his soul was indeed bitter, for, though thus far
he had spoken hopelessly, he had not been altogether hopeless; but now
that conscience raised its impassable wall high as heaven, which he