n, and as Harland was both devout and able as well as anxious to
instruct, one of the party, at least, had cause to rejoice in the journey
for the remainder of her days. But precisely as Grace increased in her own
faith, so did her anxiety after the welfare of her husband receive new
excitement; and John, for the first time, became the cause of sorrow to
his affectionate companion.

The deep interest Harland took in the opening conviction of Mrs. Moseley,
did not so entirely engross his thoughts as to prevent the too frequent
contemplation of the charms of her friend for his own peace of mind; and
by the time the vessel reached Falmouth, he had determined to make a
tender of his hand and title to the acceptance of Miss Moseley. Jane did
not love Egerton; on the contrary, she despised him; but the time had
been, when all her romantic feelings, every thought of her brilliant
imagination, had been filled with his image, and Jane felt it a species of
indelicacy to admit the impression of another so soon, or even at all.
These objections would, in time, have been overcome, as her affections
became more and more enlisted on behalf of Harland, had she admitted his
addresses; but there was an impediment that Jane considered insurmountable
to a union with any man.

She had once communicated her passion to its object. There had been the
confidence of approved love; and she had now no heart for Harland, but one
that had avowedly been a slave to another. To conceal this from him would
be unjust, and not reconcilable to good faith; to confess it, humiliating,
and without the pale of probability. It was the misfortune of Jane to keep
the world too constantly before her, and to lose sight too much of her
really depraved nature, to relish the idea of humbling herself so low in
the opinion of a fellow-creature. The refusal of Harland's offer was the
consequence, although she had begun to feel an esteem for him, that would
no doubt have given rise to an attachment in time, far stronger and more
deeply seated than her passing fancy for Colonel Egerton had been.

If the horror of imposing on the credulity of Harland a wounded heart, was
creditable to Jane, and showed an elevation of character that under proper
guidance would have placed her in the first ranks of her sex; the pride
which condemned her to a station nature did not design her for was
irreconcilable with the humility a just view of her condition could not
fail to produce; and