ment. He had
no money, by-the-bye, it was merely his _facon de parler_. So he lost no
opportunity of cultivating Miss Trevor's acquaintance. Now the Major was
a handsome, dashing man, with complete knowledge of the world, much
_savoir faire_, the faculty for making himself dangerously agreeable,
and no morals to speak of. Helen Trevor, too, though a girl of her
time, was one of those strong characters that--thank goodness!--have not
yet been eliminated from the human species, either by the artificial
restrictions of Fashion on the one hand, or the undisciplined vagaries
of Female Emancipationists on the other. She was too young and
enthusiastic to have surrendered her habit of sympathy for the cheap
cynicism that marked the culture of her day. Brimming over with
sympathy, impatient for some sphere of active interest, and just
sufficiently tinged with the spirit of martyrdom to be anxious to feel
herself doing some work in the world, her sympathetic young heart, that
had no suspicion of evil, went out to the Major when he murmured in a
tone of manly contrition: "It is true, Miss Trevor, I have been wild and
reckless, but it was all due to my having no one to guide me."

Helen's older acquaintances shook their heads in mysterious warning, and
supplied just the needful hint of opposition to cause her to devote
herself to what seemed to be a labour of moral heroism, helping him to
the best of her ability. And Fitzgerald congratulated himself on his
success in having brought about the very condition of mind he had laid
himself out to produce. But he over-estimated his powers, and he made an
irretrievably false step in trying to persuade Helen to elope with him
to avoid her father's anticipated disapproval.

Helen was prepared to go far in her antagonism to her parents' wishes,
even to consent to an open engagement, but to fly with her _fiance_ in
the fearless, old fashion did not commend itself to her somewhat rigid
ideas of right and wrong. She frankly, therefore, told her father
everything, and he, prompt to nip this affair in the bud, removed his
daughter out of the way of Major Fitzgerald's influence; and, calling
upon the Major himself, subjected the latter to an unpleasant
quarter-of-an-hour. The result of the interview was that the Major
assumed the air of an injured man, whose love had been ruthlessly
trodden on, and who had suffered the humiliation of being jilted.

For the space of two whole days the Major was ab