e. Fanny, this is an old
and much esteemed friend of mine, who has expressed a great desire to
see you, and whom, I am sure, you will love and respect for his piety
and moral excellence!"

Fanny coldly returned the salutations of the lecherous old hypocrite,
whom she had such a good reason to hate and despise; it was evident to
her that he had imposed on her worthy patrons, who really believed him
to be a man of unblemished moral and religious character. During the
evening, other company came in, and Tickels, having placed himself at
Fanny's side, whispered in her ear--

"My dear young lady, I see you recognize me; I also knew you instantly;
for God's sake do not expose me! I am sincerely sorry for the wrong I
meditated against you--I have since repented in sackcloth and ashes.
Promise me, I entreat you, that you will not whisper a word in regard to
that infamous affair to Miss Alice or her father--or, indeed, to any one
else; promise me, angel that you are--will you not?"

Fanny reflected a few moments, during which she asked herself--"What is
the right course for me to pursue in this matter? It will be very wrong
for me to ruin this man by exposing him, if he has sincerely repented.
The Bible tells us to forgive our enemies--ought I not to forgive him?
Yes, I will; my heart and conscience tell me it will be right to do so.
Mr. Tickels," she added, aloud--"I forgive you for having tried to
injure me, and, if you have truly repented, I will never say anything
about the affair which you wish to have kept secret."

How artlessly and ingenuously she pronounced those words of forgiveness,
to a man who had tried to inflict upon her the greatest injury that can
befall woman--a man who, even at that moment, in the black hypocrisy of
his heart, gloated upon her youthful charms as the wolf doth feast his
savage eyes upon the innocent lamb! Yes, and even at that moment, too,
his polluted soul was hatching an infernal plan to get her again in his
power, in a place where no aid was ever likely to wrest her from his
grasp--a place established for purposes of lust and outrage, to which he
had alluded, (in his soliloquy after the rescue of Fanny by the
Corporal,) as the "Chambers of Love."

"Ah, my young paragon of virtue," said the old hypocrite to himself--"it
is all very well for you to prate of forgiveness; but I'll have you in
the 'Chambers' in less than a month--then see if you can again escape
me! In that luxurious undergr