fortune, running after and worrying the life out of her, and maybe one
of them marrying of her, and spending of her money, and bringing of her
to poverty, and breaking of her heart. Whereas, if we keep the secret of
the estate to ourselves, you, who desarve her, because you 'counted her
all the same when she was poor, and who'd take good care of her
property, and her, too--would have her all to yourself, and nobody to
interfere. Don't you see?"

"Well, to be sure--when one looks at the thing in this light,"
deliberated the sorely-tempted lover.

"Of course! And that's the only light to look at it in! Don't you see?
Why, by gracious! it seems to me as if we were doing Marian the greatest
favor."

CHAPTER XX.

AS A LAST RESORT.

In the meantime Marian's heart was weighed down by a new cause of sorrow
and anxiety. Thurston never approached her now, either in person or by
letter. She never saw him, except at the church, the lecture-room, or in
mixed companies, where he kept himself aloof from her and devoted
himself to the beautiful and accomplished heiress Angelica Le Roy, to
whom rumor gave him as an accepted suitor.

So free was Marian's pure heart from jealousy or suspicion that these
attentions bestowed by Thurston, and these rumors circulated in the
neighborhood, gave her no uneasiness. For though she had, for herself,
discovered him to be passionate and impetuous, she believed him to be
sound in principle. But when again and again she saw them together, at
church, at lecture, at dinner parties, at evening dances; when at all
the Christmas and New Year festivities she saw her escorted by him; when
she saw him ever at her side with a devotion as earnest and ardent as it
was perfectly respectful; when she saw him bend and whisper to the
witching girl and hang delighted on her "low replies," her own
confidence was shaken. What could he mean? Was it possible that instead
of being merely impulsive and erring, he was deliberately wicked? No,
no, never! Yet, what could be his intentions? Did he really wish to win
Angelica's heart? Alas! whether he wished so or not, it was but too
evident to all that he had gained her preference. In her blushing cheek
and downcast eyes, and tremulous voice and embarrassed manner, when he
was present, in her abstracted mind, and restless air of wandering
glances when he was absent, the truth was but too clear.

Marian was far too practical to speculate when she should act. It