conscience; but he was not one who could have dared to violate an oath,
and lay the load of perjury on his soul. Perhaps, after all, the union
never would have taken place, but Templeton fell ill; that soft and
relaxing air did not agree with him; a low but dangerous fever seized
him, and the worldly man trembled at the aspect of Death. It was in this
illness that Alice nursed him with a daughter's vigilance and care; and
when at length he recovered, impressed with her zeal and kindness,
softened by illness, afraid of the approach of solitary age,--and feeling
more than ever his duties to his motherless child, he threw himself at
Alice's feet, and solemnly vowed all that she required.

It was during this residence in Devonshire, and especially during his
illness, that Templeton made and cultivated the acquaintance of Mr.
Aubrey. The good clergyman prayed with him by his sick-bed; and when
Templeton's danger was at its height, he sought to relieve his conscience
by a confession of his wrongs to Mary Westbrook. The name startled
Aubrey; and when he learned that the lovely child who had so often sat on
his knee, and smiled in his face, was the granddaughter of his first and
only love, he had a new interest in her welfare, a new reason to urge
Templeton to reparation, a new motive to desire to procure for the infant
years of Eleanor's grandchild the gentle care of the young mother, whose
own bereavement he sorrowfully foretold. Perhaps the advice and
exhortations of Aubrey went far towards assisting the conscience of Mr.
Templeton, and reconciling him to the sacrifice he made to his affection
for his daughter. Be that as it may, he married Alice, and Aubrey
solemnized and blessed the chill and barren union.

But now came a new and inexpressible affliction; the child of Alice had
rallied but for a time. The dread disease had but dallied with its prey;
it came on with rapid and sudden force; and within a month from the day