t when this last would have lured back by
civilities the repulsed lover, he was found to have left home the very day
after his mortifying dismissal.

Let those who only by looking _back_ can see the road by which misery
might have been escaped, while _before_ the vista seems quite closed up,
conceive the deep and agonizing perplexity of the anxious father. His
daughter, comforted no doubt by his frequent recurrence to the subject
near her heart, and the manner in which he treated it, slowly raised her
drooping head; but he, (the entire amende being still out of his power)
hung over her night and day, oppressed by a constant sensation of guilt,
scarcely aware of her partial restoration. For some days this ordeal
lasted; there seemed a risk that the lover might in the bitterness of his
disappointment prolong his stay indefinitely; what availed it then that
the prejudice and ambition which had exiled him were now annihilated? The
eagerly coveted-prize for which he would have sacrificed his daughter's
peace, had turned to ashes in his grasp.

But the door to returning happiness was not completely closed. Dr. Kent's
skill, aided no doubt by Lucy's young confidence in her lover's
steadfastness, kept danger at bay, until one of those opportune accidents
of life, which like many of the best things in it look threateningly until
time takes off the veil, occurred in the shape of a fire on the premises
of the wanderer; which news, forcing him to return, the indefatigable Dr.
Kent at once offered to divert his mind from this untoward circumstance,
by taking him to join the family dinner of his friend Mr. Lee. The sequel
may be imagined; on the strength of this friendly invitation, aided no
doubt by sundry blushes and smiles on Lucy's part, Mr. Lillburgh ventured
to resume his visits, and Lucy's cheek always looked so particularly rosy
on such occasions, that Mr. Lee soon became too entirely happy in the
result, to cavil any longer at the cause of her renovated health and
spirits. Sometimes, also, memory would recall for an instant that terrible
period of anxiety, and then he would treat Mr. Lillburgh with such pointed
cordiality, that before very long that young gentleman was emboldened to
take advantage of his civility, and make some disclosure of his _own_
plans for the fair Lucy's happiness, according to the liberty of speech
young gentlemen generally allow themselves when desirous of securing their
own. Mr. Lee had gone too far