cade on the other.
The long, tarnished mirrors, the faded tapestry, and the heavy,
soiled, damask curtains impressed Jabel Blake as parts of the wild
extravagance of official society, and gave him many misgivings as to
the amount of his bill. He retained enough of his Scotch temperament,
however, to make no ceremony about a glass of punch, which the General
ordered up for the old man, Arthur MacNair only abstaining, and the
beauty and amiability of the Judge's daughter, who sat at his side and
beguiled him to speak of his idolized village, his mills, his
improvements, and his new bank, softened his hard countenance as by
the reflection of her own, and touched him with tender and gratified
conceptions of the social opportunities of his _proteges_. Miss
Dunlevy's face, with the clear intellectual and moral nature of her
father calmly looking out, expressed also a more emotional and more
sympathetic bias. A pure and strong woman, whose life had ripened
among the families and circles of the best in condition and influence,
she had never crossed to the meaner side of necessity, nor appreciated
the fact, scarcely palpable, even to her father, that he was poor. An
entire life spent in the public service had allowed neither time nor
propriety for improving his private fortune; and as his salary
continued over the war era at the same modest standard which had
barely sufficed for cheaper years, he had been making annual inroads
upon his little estate, which was now quite exhausted. His daughter
might have ended his heartache and crowned his wishes by availing
herself of any of several offers of marriage which had been made to
her; but the soldierly bearing, radiant face, and fine intellect of
Elk MacNair had conquered competition when first he sought, through
her father's influence, a lieutenancy in the army.

His career had been brilliant and fortunate, and when he was brought
in from the field dangerously wounded, her womanly ministrations at
the hospital had helped to set him upon his horse again, with life
made better worth preserving for the promise of her hand, surrendered
with her father's free consent. It was a love-match, without
reservations or inquiries, the _rapport_ and wish of two equal
beings, kindred in youth, sympathy, and career, earnest to dwell
together and absorbed in the worship of each other. Folded in full
union of soul as perfectly as the leaves of a book, which are in
contact at every point equally, the