peculiarity which has
chilled warmer sentiments. He appears phlegmatic and cold. There is
about him a perpetual repose that seems inconsistent with energy and
feeling. I am not satisfied that I could be happy with such a
person--not certain that he is capable of loving, or of inspiring
love. When I marry any one, he must worship, he must adore me. He must
be ready to go crazy for me. Let him be full of faults, but let him
have--what so few possess--a warm, unselfish heart."

"I have heard you, through," said Mrs. Clifford, "now you must hear
me. It is very proper that you should not decide without full
consideration. Examine as long as you think necessary the qualities of
Mr. Franklin, and never marry him till he inspire you with confidence
and affection. But remember something is due also to him; and the
divine rule of acting toward others as you wish them to act toward
you, must be applied here, as in every affair in life. While you
should not, I allow, be hurried into a decision, yet your mind once
made up, he should not be kept a moment in suspense."

"Do you think, ma'ma," asked Caroline, "that he has much feeling?"

"I think he has. I think him peculiarly gifted with unselfish ardor.
That which appears to you coldness, is, in my opinion, the natural
reserve of a warm heart--so modest that it rather retires from
observation than parades itself before the world. Sentiment and fire,
when common on the lips, are not more likely to be native to the soul.
It is precisely that calm, that repose you allude to, which forms, in
my judgment, the guarantee of Mr. Franklin's sincerity, and the
finishing grace of his character--a character in all other respects,
also, a true and noble one."

Caroline did not listen without interest.

Mrs. Clifford was a native of New York, and had come over just a year
ago to enjoy a tour in Europe. Franklin had been a fellow-passenger;
and a sort of intimacy had grown up between the young people, which
the gentleman had taken rather _au serieux_. He had gladly availed
himself of an accidental business necessity which called the son and
proposed traveling companion of Mrs. Clifford suddenly home, to join
her little party, and had accompanied them through Italy, France,
Germany, Belgium, and Holland. The result was, that the happiness of
his life now appeared to depend upon an affirmative monosyllable in
reply to the offer he had just made of his heart and hand. Mrs.
Clifford was the widow