her room, and was soon
entirely recovered from her sudden illness. That little matter of
the heart had been settled within three minutes of their meeting,
and they were now as happy as lovers usually are under such
favorable circumstances.

When Edwin Florence went back to New York, it was with a sense of
interior pleasure more perfect than he had experienced for years;
and this would have remained, could he have shut out the past; or,
so much of it as came like an unwelcome intruder. But, alas! this
was not to be. Even while he was bending, in spirit, over the
beautiful image of his last beloved, there would come between his
eyes and that image a pale sad face, in which reproof was stronger
than affection, It was all in vain that he sought to turn from that
face. For a time it would remain present, and then fade slowly away,
leaving his heart oppressed.

"Is it to be ever thus!" he would exclaim, in these seasons of
darkness. "Will nothing satisfy this accusing spirit? Edith! Dear
Edith! Art thou not among the blessed ones? Is not thy heart happy
beyond mortal conception? Then why come to me thus with those
tearful eyes, that shadowy face, those looks of reproof? Have I not
suffered enough for purification! Am I never to be forgiven?"

And then, with an effort, he would turn his eyes from the page laid
open by Memory, and seek to forget what was written there. But it
seemed as if every thing conspired to freshen his remembrance of the
past, the nearer the time approached, when by a marriage union with
one truly beloved, he was to weaken the bonds it had thrown around
him. The marriage of Miss Linmore took place a few weeks after his
engagement with Clara, and as an intimate friend led her to the
altar, he could not decline making one of the number that graced the
nuptial festivities. In meeting the young bride, he endeavored to
push from his mind all thoughts of their former relations. But she
had not done this, and her thought determined his. Her mind recurred
to the former time, the moment he came into her presence, and, of
necessity his went back also. They met, therefore, with a certain
reserve, that was to him most unpleasant, particularly as it stirred
a hundred sleeping memories.

By a strong effort, Florence was able to conceal from other eyes
much of what he felt. In doing this, a certain over action was the
consequence; and he was gayer than usual. Several times he
endeavored to be lightly familiar wit