f the
day on which he left the city. The dread of _the fever_ was descanted on
with copious and rude eloquence. I supposed her eloquence on this theme
to be designed to apologize to me for her refusing entrance to the sick
man. The peroration, however, was different. Wallace was admitted, and
suitable attention paid to his wants.

Happily, the guest had nothing to struggle with but extreme weakness.
Repose, nourishing diet, and salubrious airs restored him in a short
time to health. He lingered under this roof for three weeks, and then,
without any professions of gratitude, or offers of pecuniary
remuneration, or information of the course which he determined to take,
he left them.

These facts, added to that which I had previously known, threw no
advantageous light upon the character of Wallace. It was obvious to
conclude that he had gone to Malverton, and thither there was nothing to
hinder me from following him.

Perhaps one of my grossest defects is a precipitate temper. I choose my
path suddenly, and pursue it with impetuous expedition. In the present
instance, my resolution was conceived with unhesitating zeal, and I
walked the faster that I might the sooner execute it. Miss Hadwin
deserved to be happy. Love was in her heart the all-absorbing sentiment.
A disappointment there was a supreme calamity. Depravity and folly must
assume the guise of virtue before it can claim her affection. This
disguise might be maintained for a time, but its detection must
inevitably come, and the sooner this detection takes place the more
beneficial it must prove.

I resolved to unbosom myself, with equal and unbounded confidence, to
Wallace and his mistress. I would choose for this end, not the moment
when they were separate, but that in which they were together. My
knowledge, and the sources of my knowledge, relative to Wallace, should
be unfolded to the lady with simplicity and truth. The lover should be
present, to confute, to extenuate, or to verify the charges.

During the rest of the day these images occupied the chief place in my
thoughts. The road was miry and dark, and my journey proved to be more
tedious and fatiguing than I expected. At length, just as the evening
closed, the well-known habitation appeared in view. Since my departure,
winter had visited the world, and the aspect of nature was desolate and
dreary. All around this house was vacant, negligent, forlorn. The
contrast between these appearances and those wh