ah's nuptials
were celebrated in a less imposing manner, and created but little
sensation. Most of her friends thought she had done but poorly.
Whether this were so, will be seen in the sequel.

"Harriet, with all her want of reflection and in-sight into
character, was a young woman of strong feelings, and loved, when she
did love, with something like blind idolatry. Thus she loved her
husband. He was every thing to her, and she believed him as near
perfection as a mortal could well be. The first few months of her
married life passed swiftly away in the enjoyment of as high a
degree of felicity as her mind seemed capable of appreciating. After
that, a shadow fell upon her spirit--dim and almost imperceptible at
first, but gradually becoming denser and more palpable. Harriet had
noticed, from the first, that her husband but rarely spoke of his
family, and always evaded any questions that a natural curiosity
prompted her to make. If he received any letter from home, he
carefully concealed the fact from her. The wealth, respectability,
and high standing of his family made Harriet, as a matter of course,
feel desirous of bearing a more intimate relation to its members
than she now did. The more she thought about this, the less
satisfied did she feel. It was the marked dislike manifested by her
husband to any reference to his family, that first caused a coldness
to pass over the heart of the young wife, and a shadow to dim the
bright sunshine of her spirits; for it induced the thought that
something might be wrong. Once give such a thought birth, and let
mystery and doubt continue to harass the mind, and peace is gone for
ever. A thousand vague suspicions will enter, and words, looks, and
actions will have a signification never apparent before.

"Thus it was with my young friend, ere six months had passed since
her wedding-day. To increase her anxious doubts, her husband seemed
to grow cold towards her. This might all be imagination, but the
idea, once in possession of her mind, found numberless sustaining
evidences. He went out more frequently in the evening and stayed out
later than at first. Sometimes he would sit silent and abstracted,
and only reply in monosyllables to her questions or remarks.

"One day he came home to dinner, looking graver than usual. But,
during the meal, there was an evident desire on his part to appear
cheerful and unconcerned; he talked more freely than usual, and even
made many light and jes