profess the most devoted love—that will do. At least her answer will show me what she intends to do."
Burr went home, sad and disconsolate. He had never felt more miserable, and he declared to himself that life was nothing but a hell upon earth.
The next morning, Aaron went down stairs with a heavy heart, but he very unexpectedly encountered, at the breakfast-table, a beautiful blonde, a Miss Edwards, from New York, a distant relative, who had formed an acquaintance with his sister in the metropolis, and who had now called to make a visit of several days.
Burr's head was so full of Angelina Dudley, that he saluted the young lady from New York with formal politeness. He listened to her conversation during breakfast, however, and found her lively and intelligent. Withal, the glances she now and then cast at Aaron, were well calculated to satisfy his vanity, of which he had no small share, when women were concerned.
He then regarded Miss Edwards more attentively. He saw that her locks were flaxen and very abundant; her complexion was pure; and bust good, and her form very voluptuous and elegantly turned. Her hands and feet were small.
By degrees his imagination became fired, and before night, he said many soft things to the white-bosomed maid of Gotham.
Alas! the letter to Angelina Dudley was not written that day; he would do it early to-morrow morning.
The morning came, and Aaron was in a hurry to join Miss Edwards; he would write to Angelina in the evening. By the time evening arrived, the letter was forgotten entirely: he had kissed the lips of the handsome blonde, and found them sweeter than the honey of Hybla.
Mrs. Reeve was not altogether ignorant of the roguish propensities of her promising brother, and evidently watched the growing intimacy of Aaron and her lively visitor with some suspicion. She was determined that Miss Edwards should not suffer an irreparable injury to her house, and frequently broke in upon the tete-a-tetes of the young couple, with visible manifestations of uneasiness.
Aaron saw that he must set his wits at work, and one Sunday, when the trio set out together to church—Mr. Reeve being from home—the former feigned a sudden faintness, and the good sister went back for her salts, leaving Aaron and Miss Edwards in the centre of a piece of woods. Aaron lost not a moment, but commenced the violent protestation of undying love.
Miss Edwards and Miss Dudley were two very different women, and the former had not, like Angelina, made the first advances. She received kindly the declarations of Burr, and evidently regarded him in
