"The boy was of too ardent a temperament, and too madly in love, to
brook for a moment the thought of waiting until parents and guardians
should consider them of suitable age to marry, in addition to which he
had good reason to fear that his father, with whom family pride was a
ruling passion, would entirely refuse his consent upon learning that
the father of the young lady had begun life as a poor, uneducated boy,
and worked his way up to wealth and position by dint of hard labor and
incessant application to business.

"The boy, it is true, was almost as proud himself, but it was not
until the arrows of the boy-god had entered into his heart too
deeply to be extracted, that he learned the story of his charmer's
antecedents. Yet I doubt if the result would have been different had
he been abundantly forewarned; for oh, Miss Rose, if ever an angel
walked the earth in human form it was she!--so gentle, so good, so
beautiful!"

He heaved a deep sigh, paused a moment, and then went on:

"Well, Miss Rose, as you have probably surmised, they were privately
married. If that sweet girl had a fault, it was that she was too
yielding to those she loved, and she did love her young husband with
all the warmth of her young guileless heart; for she had neither
parents nor kinsfolk, and he was the one object around which her
affections might cling. They were all the world to each other, and for
a few short months they were very happy.

"But it could not last; the marriage was discovered--her guardian and
the young man's father were both furious, and they were torn asunder;
she carried away to a distant plantation, and he sent North to attend