, to watch her growth, to win
her affection. This, at present, seemed impossible. But if he were to
marry,--marry a widow, to whom he might confide all, or a portion, of
the truth; if that child could be passed off as hers--ah, that was the
best plan! And Templeton wanted a wife! Years were creeping on him, and
the day would come when a wife would be useful as a nurse. But Alice was
supposed to be a widow; and Alice was so meek, so docile, so motherly.
If she could be induced to remove from C-----, either part with her own
child or call it her niece,--and adopt his. Such, from time to time,
were Templeton's thoughts, as he visited Alice, and found, with every
visit, fresh evidence of her tender and beautiful disposition; such
the objects which, in the First Part of this work, we intimated were
different from those of mere admiration for her beauty.*** But again,
worldly doubts and fears--the dislike of so unsuitable an alliance, the
worse than lowness of Alice's origin, the dread of discovery for her
early error--held him back, wavering and irresolute. To say truth, too,
her innocence and purity of thought kept him at a certain distance.
He was acute enough to see that he--even he, the great Richard
Templeton--might be refused by the faithful Alice.

* See "Ernest Maltravers," book iv., p. 164.

** "Ernest Maltravers," book iv., p. 181.

*** "Our banker always seemed more struck by Alice's moral
feelings than even by her physical beauty. Her love for her
child, for instance, impressed him powerfully," etc. "His
feelings altogether for Alice, the designs he entertained
towards her, were of a very complicated nature, and it will
be long, perhaps, before the reader can thoroughly comprehend
them."--See "Ernest Maltravers," book iv., p. 178.

At last Darvil was dead; he breathed more freely, he revolved more
seriously his projects; and at this time, Sarah, wooed by her first
lover, wished to marry again; his secret would pass from her breast to
her second husband's, and thence how far would it travel? Added to this,
Sarah's conscience grew uneasy; the brand ought to be effaced from the
memory of the dead mother, the legitimacy of the child proclaimed;
she became importunate, she wearied and she alarmed the pious man. He
therefore resolved to rid himself of the only witness to his marriage
whose testimony he had cause to fear,--of the presence of the only
one acquainted with his sin and the real name