pure and lovely young
woman, inheriting her mother's personal beauty and refined tastes. She
had been carefully educated and kept by her mother as much within the
sphere of home as possible and out of society of the hoydenish girls
who, moving in the so-called best circles, have the free and easy
manners of the denizens of a public garden rather than the modest
demeanor of unsullied maidenhood. She was a sweet exception to the
loud, womanish, conventional girl we meet everywhere--on the street, in
places, of public amusement and in the drawing-room--a fragrant human
flower with the bloom of gentle girlhood on every unfolding leaf.

It was no slender tie that bound these lovers together. They had moved
toward each other, drawn by an inner attraction that was irresistible
to each; and when heart touched heart, their pulses took a common beat.
The life of each had become bound up in the other, and their betrothal
was no mere outward contract. The manly intellect and the pure heart
had recognized each other, tender love had lifted itself to noble
thought, and thought had grown stronger and purer as it felt the warmth
and life of a new and almost divine inspiration. Ellis Whitford had
risen to a higher level by virtue of this betrothal.

They were sitting in a bay-window, out of the crowd of guests, when a
movement in the company was observed by Whitford. Knowing what it
meant, he arose and offered his arm to Blanche. As he did so he became
aware of a change in his companion, felt rather than seen; and yet, if
he had looked closely into her face, a change in its expression would
have been visible. The smile was still upon her beautiful lips, and the
light and tenderness still in her eyes, but from both something had
departed. It was as if an almost invisible film of vapor had drifted
across the sun of their lives.

In silence they moved on to the supper-room--moved with the light and
heavy-hearted, for, as Dr. Hillhouse had intimated, there were some
there to whom that supper-room was regarded with anxiety and
fear--wives and mothers and sisters who knew, alas! too well that
deadly serpents lie hidden among the flowers of every banqueting-room.

How bright and joyous a scene it was! You did not see the trouble that
lay hidden in so many hearts; the light and glitter, the flash and
brilliancy, were too strong.

Reader, did you ever think of the power of spheres? The influence that
goes out from an individual or mass of