Reviewiug, in his mind, the women whom he knew, thtro
was not one, lie confessed to himself, whom he would ever,
probably, be able to love. Hia acquaintances in New Yortc
were bright, lively ^Is — the associates of bis nieces — in some
of whom, no doubt, there was a firm basis of noble feminine
character. It could not be otherwise; yet the woman who
must share his seclusion, finding in him, prim^pully, her
eoaetf, in his home her recreation, iu his happiness her own,
ooold scarcely be found in that drcle. Coming badl to I'toI»
tny, bid survey was equally discouraging. He oooJd iiev«i
overlook h lack of intellectual culture iu his wiie. Who poir-
EesBcd that, auless, indeed, Hannah Thnrston? Sbt, be »>l-|
tniltod, had botli exquisite taste and a di-gree of cbIiuiv re-|
tnarkable for the opportunities she enjoyed ; but s anioa Willi
her woaltl be a perpetual torment. She, with her nofbid
notions of right, seeing an unpardonable liu tn every ianocftnt
peraooal babtt 1 What little she had oUerveil of hJ* exl«raaJ
life bad evidently inspired her with a atrmg didike of him ;
how could she bear to know hiui as he waft— to look over thn
pflgeH of bis i>ast life ? Hi* wiie, he felt, mot he allowed tw
illuuoiis. If she coidd not find eoongfa of trrtli mm] wiinlim i*
in hia heart to counterbalance pact erron add HcMnt "li-ftrts.
»he eboulil Bud no adiuittunce ibtsre.
