patience; and the banker, to his own surprise, was again called in. We
have said that he was an experienced and skilful adviser, which implies
the faculty of persuasion. He soon saw the handle by which Alice's
obstinacy might always be moved--her little girl's welfare. He put this
so forcibly before her eyes; he represented the child's future fate as
resting so much, not only on her own good conduct, but on her outward
respectability, that he prevailed upon her at last; and, perhaps, one
argument that he incidentally used, had as much effect on her as the
rest. "This Mr. Butler, if yet in England, may pass through our
town--may visit amongst us--may hear you spoken of by a name similar to
his own, and curiosity would thus induce him to seek you. Take his
name, and you will always bear an honourable index to your mutual
discovery and recognition. Besides, when you are respectable, honoured,
and earning an independence, he may not be too proud to marry you. But
take your own name, avow your own history, and not only will your child
be an outcast, yourself a beggar, or, at best, a menial dependant, but
you lose every hope of recovering the object of your too-devoted
attachment."

Thus Alice was convinced. From that time she became close and reserved
in her communications. Mrs. Leslie had wisely selected a town
sufficiently remote from her own abode to preclude any revelations of
her domestics; and, as Mrs. Butler, Alice attracted universal sympathy
and respect from the exercise of her talents, the modest sweetness of
her manners, the unblemished propriety of her conduct. Somehow or other,
no sooner did she learn the philosophy of concealment than she made a
great leap in knowledge of the world. And, though flattered and courted
by the young loungers of C------, she steered her course with so much
address that she was never persecuted. For there are few men in the
world who make advances where there is no encouragement.