at there alone was sacred incense burning.
Mrs. Lynn, (I will speak of her by her name hereafter,) though only one
year had passed since his death, was assuming those light, coquettish
airs which accord as little with the robes of widowhood as the hues of
the rainbow or the garlands of spring.

"I saw with exquisite pain and shame, that she looked upon me as a rival
of her maturer charms, and gladly yielded to my wish for retirement. She
always spoke of me as 'the child,' the 'little bookworm,' impressing
upon the minds of all the idea of my extreme juvenility. I _was_ young;
but I had arrived to years of womanhood, and my stature equalled hers.

"I will pass on to the scene which decided my destiny. I do not wish to
swell the volume of my life. Let it be brief as it is sad.

"Very near the fortress is another rocky bulwark, rising out of the
waves in stern and rugged majesty, known by the peculiar name of the
Rip-Raps. It is the work of man, who paved the ocean bed with rocks, and
conceived the design of a lofty castle, from whose battlements the
star-spangled banner should wave, and whose massy turrets should
perpetuate the honors of Carolina's most gifted son. The design was
grand, but has never been completed. It has, however, finished
apartments, which form a kind of summer hotel, where many statesmen
often resort, that they may lay down, for a while, the burden of care,
and breathe an atmosphere pure from political corruption, and cool from
party zeal and strife.

"At the time of which I speak the chief magistrate of the nation sought
refuge there for a short while, from the oppressive responsibilities of
his exalted station, and regardless of his wish for retirement, or
rather irresistibly impelled to pay honors to one whose brows were
wreathed with the soldier's laurel as well as the statesman's crown,
every one sought his rocky and wave-washed retreat.

"Mrs. Lynn joined a party of ladies, who, escorted by officers, went
over in barges to be introduced to the gallant veteran. The martial
spirit of my father throbbed high in my bosom, and I longed to behold
one, whom he would have delighted to honor. Mrs. Lynn did not urge me,
but there were others who supplied her deficiency, and convinced me I
was not considered an intruder. Among the gentlemen who composed our
party was a stranger, by the name of St. James, to whom Mrs. Lynn paid
the most exclusive attention. She was still in the bloom of womanhood,
and