ceive, that without good practical effects, goodwill is nothing better than an empty name. But what is your opinion of the Baronet?"
"That he is very much to be pitied."
"Pitied!" retorted he; "commiseration for his case, and what more, admired I suppose? This I might have expected of womankind in general, and of you, my love, in particular. But I asked not your statement as a woman, but your sentence as a judge."
"I fear you will make but indifferent lawyers of our sex. Shall I answer then as my father's representative, according to what I remember of his pious precepts as a Christian moralist?"
"Do so, and be my Aspasia or Hypatia."
"Let me rather represent Aspasia; you, Theron."
"With all my heart! as a disciple, then, I beg to inquire why sentence of condemnation should be pronounced against Sir Henry Hodson, who, rather than witness the evil that was about to befall his nearest and dearest relative, compromised that which was dearer to him than life—his honour. Was not this Love?—and is not, 'Love the fulfilling of the law'? If not, what is Love, what is Law?"
"It appears to me that if we allowed ourselves to be governed by mere natural affections only, we
