the parties interested, for his heart had long been given to one
who was in all respects worthy of its best affections. It afforded
him, however, no little amusement to find himself the object of so
much attention, and he quietly enjoyed the situation, while the
parties in question endeavored to out-manoeuvre each other, as
they strove, as they supposed without appearing to strive, to
capture the object of their ambition. There was such subtle tact
exhibited and such powers of delicate blandishment displayed that
he was convinced women were born diplomatists, and he now had some
conception of how it was that in a broader field some of the sex
had wielded such an influence over kings and statesmen as to be
the powers behind the throne which ruled empires and kingdoms for
their benison or their bane. He certainly would have possessed
extraordinary attributes if his vanity had not been flattered, by
being conscious he was thought worthy of such flattering
attention; though his thoughts were tinged with cynicism when
exhibitions of selfishness were not wanting in his fair friends,
and as, sometimes, delicate hints were faintly outlined which
darkened character, and inuendoes were whispered to the detriment
of rivals, by lips that seemed moulded only to breathe blessings
or whisper love.

As we have previously stated, Richard Ashton had met his fate
years before, when, as a young man of eighteen, he attended a
social party given by a Mrs. Edmunds, whose husband was a great
friend of his father's, and a member of the same guild. He was
there introduced to a modest, unpretentious, but yet cultivated
and refined country maiden, Ruth Hamilton by name, who was a niece
of his host. We will not say it was a case of love at first sight,
though they certainly were, from the first, mutually attracted