edge of her letter. John had
hurriedly slipped his (it was rather the worse for its mauling) into
his trousers-pocket.

"You--you didn't think me neglectful?"

"Oh, no."

"I was thinking of you all the time,"

"And I was thinking of you, dear."

"Are you very happy?"

"Yes, John; aren't you?"

"Of course I am. Happy! I should think so," and he kissed her with
unimpeachable fervor.

When a conscientious person makes up his mind that he ought, for good
reasons, to deceive somebody, there is no one like him for
thorough-paced hypocrisy. When two conscientious people resolve; to
deceive one another, on grounds of duty, the acme of duplicity is in a
fair way to be reached. John Ashforth and Mary Travers illustrated this
proposition. The former had been all his life a good son, and was now a
trustworthy partner, to his father, who justly relied no less on his
character than on his brains. The latter, since her parents' early
death had left her to her aunt's care, had been the comfort and prop of
Miss Bussey's life. It is difficult to describe good people without
making them seem dull; but luckily nature is defter than novelists, and
it is quite possible to be good without being dull. Neither Mary nor
John was dull; a trifle limited, perhaps, they were, a thought severe
in their judgments of others as well as of themselves; a little
exacting with their friends and more than a little with themselves.
One description paints them both; doubtless their harmony of mind had
contributed more than Mary's sweet expression and finely cut features,
or John's upstanding six feet, and honest capable face, to produce that
attachment between them which had, six months before this story begins,
culminated in their engagement. Once arrived at, this ending seemed to
have been inevitable. Everybody discovered that they had foretold it
from the first, and modestly disclaimed any credit for anticipating a
union between a couple so obviously made for one another.

The distress into which lovers such as these fell when they discovered
by personal experience that sincerely to vow eternal love is one thing,
and sincerely to give it quite another, may be well imagined, and may
well be left to be imagined. They both went through a terrible period
of temptation, wherein they listened longingly to the seductive
pleading of their hearts; but both emerged triumphant, resolved to
stifle their mad fancy, to prefer good faith to mere inclination,