m a great deal better youth than he proved to be.
When he foolishly proposed _the_ subject to me, I dismissed it again
quietly as might be, convincing him, as I hope, that the thing was
forever impossible. And I kept his secret well. No one till to-day can
say that I was ever guilty of parading this offer, and its refusal,
before my friends; and I scarcely think _you_ will consider me as
parading it _now_; or, indeed, of entering on this recital merely to
gratify a foolish personal vanity. Tom, himself, by his ungentlemanly
conduct, exposed all that ever was exposed; and his impudent, silly
behavior toward me has had the final result of making me heartily
despise him; and I sincerely hope no damsel that _I_ love will ever
accept offers, which some dozens may yet have the honor, or--which is
it? be _doomed_ to hear!

"Harry Kirkland was, indeed, a fine fellow--at least I thought so
once, for I was engaged to him within a time I well remember.
Talented, too--was he not? But, oh, what an unreasonable mortal he
was.

"When I engaged myself to Harry, I did love him truly, or what I
_thought_ was him, but you will not wonder that my love cooled before
such evidences of tyranny, _incipient_ it could hardly be called, as
he exhibited, truly in a petty manner, but giving me good,
overpowering evidence of what I might expect when the _chains_ of
Hymen should be flung around us.

"_He_ went to his Club, and the Lyceum, and became a member of the Odd
Fellows Society, so soon as there was one organized in the
village--indeed, on all points acted his own pleasure, even as to the
number of cigars he would smoke per day. And I, like a reasonable
woman, thinking all this part and parcel of his own business, never
for a moment _thought_ of interfering. But no sooner had I, in a kind
of dumb way, (foolishly enough, I confess _now_,) answered his
pathetic appeals, by acknowledging that I loved him, than he at once,
without questioning his right and title, proceeded to take the reins
of government into his own hands. And then it was incessantly,
'Florence, why do you allow that cox-comb to visit you?' or, 'why did
you go to the party last night when I was away?' or, 'how _can_ you
endure that conceited fool?' or, 'do, dear, arrange your hair in some
other style--curls are so common!' or, at another time, when I had
adorned myself with special thoughts of him, and his particular taste,
the ungracious salutation would be, 'It is _so_ stra