met upon his travels.

But one day all this was changed. Imogene Dare entered his home,
awakening a light in the dim old place that melted his heart and made a
man out of what was usually considered a well-ordered machine.

She had been a foundling. Yes, this beautiful, disdainful, almost
commanding woman, had in the beginning been that most unfortunate of
beings--a child without a name. But though this fact may have influenced
the course of her early days, it gradually disappeared from notice as
she grew up and developed, till in Sibley, at least, it became wellnigh
a fact forgotten. Her beauty, as well as the imposing traits of her
character, was the cause. There are some persons so gifted with natural
force that, once brought in contact with them, you forget their
antecedents, and, indeed, every thing but themselves. Either their
beauty overawes you or they, by conversation or bearing, so completely
satisfy you of their right to your respect, that indifference takes the
place of curiosity, and you yield your regard as if you have already
yielded your admiration, without question and without stint.

The early years of her life were passed in the house of a poor widow, to
whom the appearance of this child on her door-step one fine day had been
nothing more nor less than a veritable godsend. First, because she was
herself alone in the world, and needed the mingled companionship and
care which a little one invariably gives; and, secondly, because
Imogene, from the very first, had been a noticeable child, who early
attracted the attention of the neighbors, and led to many a substantial
evidence of favor from them, as well as from the strangers who passed
their gate or frequented their church. Insensibly to herself, and
without help of circumstances or rearing, the girl was a magnet toward
which all good things insensibly tended; and the widow saw this, and,
while reaping the reward, stinted neither her affection nor her
gratitude.

When Imogene was eleven, this protector of her infancy died. But another
home instantly offered. A wealthy couple of much kindness, if little
culture, adopted her as their child, and gave her every benefit in life
save education. This never having possessed themselves, they openly
undervalued. But she was not to be kept down by the force of any
circumstances, whether favorable or otherwise. All the graces of manner
and refinements of thought which properly belong to the station she had
now