ve Cote. They came stealthily and in disguise, and
they did not fail to involve him in the insidious schemes and base
plottings by which a wary foe generally endeavors to smoothe the way of
invasion. The temporary importance which these connections conferred,
and the assiduous appeal which it was the policy of the enemy to make to
his loyalty, wrought upon the vanity of the scholar, and brought him, by
degrees, from the mere toleration of an intercourse that he at first
sincerely sought to avoid, into a participation of the plans of those
who courted his fellowship. Still, however, this was grudgingly
given--as much from the inaptitude of his character, as from a secret
consciousness, at bottom, that it was contrary to the purpose that had
induced him to seek the shelter of the woods. Unless, therefore, the
spur was frequently applied to the side of his reluctant resolution, his
zeal was apt to weary in its pace, or, to change my figure for one
equally appropriate, to melt away in the sunny indolence of his temper.

I have said that, during the tenderer years of the children, and up to
the period of the loss of their mother, they had received the most
unremitting attention from their parents. The bereavement of his wife,
the deep gloom that followed this event, and the now engrossing
character of the war, had in some degree relaxed Lindsay's vigilance
over their nurture, although it had in no wise abated his affection for
them; on the contrary, perhaps this was more concentrated than ever.
Mildred had grown up to the blossom-time of life, in the possession of
every personal attraction. From the fanciful ideas of education adopted
by her father, or rather from the sedulous care with which he
experimented upon her capacity, and devoted himself to the task of
directing and waiting upon the expansion of her intellect, she had made
acquirements much beyond her years, and altogether of a character
unusual to her sex. An ardent and persevering temper had imparted a
singular enthusiasm to her pursuits; and her air, though not devoid of
playfulness, might be said to be habitually abstracted and
self-communing.

As the war advanced, her temper and situation both enlisted her as a
partisan in the questions which it brought into discussion; and, whilst
her father's opinions were abhorrent to this struggle for independence,
she, on the other hand, unknown to him, was casting her thoughts,
feelings, affections, and hopes upon the br