shrunken aspect,
like the face of one who had been sick; and it showed also the marks of
great suffering.

"'You may trust me as your own sister, Delia,' said I, 'and if in my
power to counsel or to comfort, both will be freely accorded.'

"I called her Delia, instead of Mrs. Dewey; not from design, but because
the old name by which I had known her was first on my lips.

"I thought there was a sudden lifting of her eyes as I pronounced this
name. The effect, if any followed, was not to repel, but to draw her
closer.

"'I am standing,' she said, speaking slowly and solemnly, 'at the edge
of a deep abyss, my way hedged up on both sides, and enemies coming on
behind. I have not strength to spring over; and to fall is destruction.
In my weakness and despair, I turn to you for help. If there is help in
any mortal arm, something tells me it is in yours.'

"She did not weep, nor show strong emotion. But her face was almost
colorless, and presented an image of woe such as never met my eyes,
except in pictures.

"'You have heard, no doubt,' she went on, 'some of the stories to
my discredit which have been circulated in S----. That I was gay and
imprudent at Saratoga, cannot be denied--gay and imprudent as are too
many fashionable women, under the exciting allurements of the place.
Little fond flirtations with gentlemen made up a part of our pastime
there. But as for sin--it was not in my thoughts!' She said this with
an emphasis that assured me of its truth. 'A mere life of fashionable
pleasure is a great exhauster of resources. One tires of this excitement
and of that, pushing them aside, as a child does an old or broken toy,
to grasp after something new. It is not surprising, therefore, that mere
pleasure-seeking women forget at times the just proprieties of life,
and, before they are aware of danger, find themselves in very equivocal
positions. This was simply my case. Nothing more--nothing less.'

"She paused and looked earnestly into my face, to see if I credited this
assertion.

"'I have never believed any thing else,' said I.

"A faint, sad smile flitted across her wan face.

"'The consequences of this error on my part,' she went on, 'threaten
to be of the most disastrous kind. My husband has ever since conducted
himself towards me as if I were a guilty and disgraced thing. We occupy
separate apartments; and though we sit together at the same table, words
rarely pass between us. Occasionally he comes home unde