altogether. What had been her own responsibility in the case? She could
not have foreseen all the horrors of that history; but she, too, could
have prevented it. The consciousness of this filled her with
self-condemnation; yet she could not acknowledge herself to be on a
level with Mr. Belcher. She was ready and anxious to right all the
wrongs she had inflicted; he was bent on increasing and confirming them.
She cursed him in her heart for his Injustice and cruelty, and almost
cursed herself.

But she dwelt most upon the future which the discoveries of the hour had
rendered possible to herself. She had found a way out of her hateful
life. She had found a lad who admired, loved, and trusted her, upon whom
she could lavish her hungry affections--one, indeed, upon whom she had a
right to lavish them. The life which she had led from girlhood was like
one of those deep canons in the far West, down which her beautiful boat
had been gliding between impassable walls that gave her only here and
there glimpses of the heaven above. The uncertain stream had its
fascinations. There were beautiful shallows over which she had glided
smoothly and safely, rocks and rapids over which she had shot swiftly
amid attractive dangers, crooked courses that led she did not know
whither, landing-places where she could enjoy an hour of the kindly
sun. But all the time she knew she was descending. The song of the
waterfalls was a farewell song to scenes that could never be witnessed
again. Far away perhaps, perhaps near, waited the waters of the gulf
that would drink the sparkling stream into its sullen depths, and steep
it in its own bitterness. It was beautiful all the way, but it was going
down, down, down. It was seeking the level of its death; and the little
boat that rode so buoyantly over the crests which betrayed the hidden
rocks, would be but a chip among the waves of the broad, wild sea that
waited at the end.

Out of the fascinating roar that filled her ears; out of the sparkling
rapids and sheeny reaches, and misty cataracts that enchanted her eyes;
and out of the relentless drift toward the bottomless sea, she could be
lifted! The sun shone overhead. There were rocks to climb where her
hands would bleed; there were weary heights to scale; but she knew that
on the top there were green pastures and broad skies, and the music of
birds--places where she could rest, and from which she could slowly find
her way back, in loving companionshi