" cried she, her eagerness moved by the
evident despondency of his manner; "he speaks of you with all the
interest of a father."

"Do not say so," cried Cashel, in a voice tremulous with anxiety;
"do not say so, if you mean not to encourage hopes I scarcely dare to
cherish."

His look and manner, even more than his words, startled her, and she
stared at him, uncertain what reply to make.

"I never knew a father, nor have I ever tasted a mother's affection. I
have been one of whom fortune makes a plaything, as if to show how much
worldly prosperity can consort with a desolate condition, and a heart
for which none have sympathy. I had hoped, however, to attach others to
me. I had joined in pursuits that were not mine, to endeavor to render
myself companionable. I fell in with habits that were uncongenial, and
tastes that I ever disliked; but without success. I might be 'the dupe.'
but never 'the friend.' I could have borne much--I did bear much--to win
something that resembled cordiality and esteem; but all in vain! When I
lived the wild life of a Columbian sailor, I deemed that such men as I
now associate with must be the very types of chivalry, and I longed to
be of them, and among them. Still, the reproach lies not at their door.
_They_ stepped not out of their sphere to act a part,--_I_ did; mine was
all the sycophancy of imitation. The miserable cant of fashion formed
all my code. But for this, I might have won good men's esteem; but for
this, I might have learned what duties attach to fortune and station
such as mine; and now I see the only one, from whom I hoped to gain the
knowledge, about to leave me!"

"This despondency is ill-judging and unfair," said Mary, in a kind tone.
"You did, perhaps, choose your friends unwisely, but you judge them
unjustly too. _They_ never dreamed of friendship in their intercourse
with you; _they_ only thought of that companionship which men of the
same age and fortune expect to meet in each other. If less worldly wise,
or more generous than themselves, they deemed that they once had paid
for their skill and cleverness; and so should _you_. Remember, that you
put a value upon their intimacy which it never laid claim to, and that
_they_ were less false than were _you_ self-deceived."

"Be it so," said Cashel, hastily. "I care little where the delusion
began. I meant honestly, and if they played not on the square with me,
the fault be theirs; but that is not what I would speak of,