"It is, I am sorry to say, too true; and she has married that young Archer."

"It cannot be so, James. Surely there must be some mistake?"

"No. They went off together last night, and were married secretly. It is announced this morning in the papers. I am told that no one even suspected that they had met since the time their former engagement was broken.”

T

"The girl must be insane!"

"How long is it since you saw her, Anna?" "It is several weeks since she was here. Then she told me, as I mentioned to you at the time, that Archer had written to her, and that she felt inclined to believe public opinion judged him too severely."

"What it has not done. He is just as bad as the general voice pronounces him; I believe And this the poor girl will soon find to

worse.

her sorrow."

"Did you hear at whose house the marriage took place? Or, did they go to a minister's?"

"It is said that the ceremony was performed by an alderman, at the residence of Mrs. Leslie." "Now I understand. This is the work of that injudicious woman. Oh, what could she have

been thinking about! She knew the character of Archer well."

"Few knew it better. But Mrs. Leslie is a thoughtless woman. Criminally thoughtless."

"I never felt any rational confidence in her, after I had known her for a short time. How much of evil such a woman can do; and yet move in the best society, and be well received there! Poor Florence! Most sincerely do I commiserate her."

"How will her parents act? Do you think they will be so much incensed at her conduct as to refuse to receive her with her husband ?”

"I think not. They will be grieved sorely. It will be a painful affliction. But they will not cast off their child."

"I am glad of that, for her sake."

"Yes. A consciousness of having acted wrong, is grief enough, without anger and banishment added thereto."

وو

"I suppose you will call and see her, and "No, James. I do not intend calling upon her."

"Ah! Why not? You were friends. She may have acted wrong, but she is still the same." "Not to me. She is no longer Florence Ar

mitage, but the wife of William Archer, whose character I detest."

"But, shall you, because his character is vile, cease to regard the good that is in his wife?"

"No. I may regard all that is good in her, still; but I cannot visit her. Would it be right for me to do it when I could not speak to her husband if he were standing by her side? I think not. Reverse the case. Would it be right for me to receive the visits of a lady who would not speak to you?"?

I

"That question is not very hard to answer. do not think it would. But no lady could have the good reason for avoiding me that you have for avoiding Archer."

"It matters not.

Florence believes, no doubt,

that her husband is innocent of the heinous sins laid to his charge, and therefore ought not to receive my visits while I treat him as if he were guilty. But more than this. I believe that no woman can love a bad man as her husband, and not suffer a moral perversion. This is another reason why I do not wish to be on terms of intimacy with the wife of Mr. Archer. And a still further reason is, that I ought not to visit freely in the family of a man so justly condemned by public opinion, lest he be thought one of my husband's friends."

"You would not feel bound to treat Florence coldly, if she were to call upon you?"

"No. But I could not return her call. She

has shown herself, in this act, so destitute of true womanly feeling, that I do not wish to number her among those I call my friends."

"All will not appreciate your motives. You will be thought harsh and censorious."

"I cannot help it. I desire. the good opinion of every one, but not at the expense of my own self-respect. Florence has chosen her way in life; and it will, I fear, be a thorny one but I cannot go along by her side; for I chose a different way."

"I hardly suppose that your visiting Florence occasionally would cause any one to think improperly of me," said Hartley.

"It might have that effect; and, while I live, no act of mine shall cast even a flitting shadow over my husband's good name or fortune."

Anna spoke with a generous warmth that caused Hartley's bosom to glow.

"I freely approve of what you say," he returned. "Florence has chosen her path in life, and that path cannot run side by side with yours. If you detest the husband's principles so fully that

you cannot speak to him, you ought not to be on terms of friendly intercourse with his wife."

"No; I feel that I ought not; and feeling, you know, is sometimes a woman's strongest

reason."

CHAPTER XIII.

MRS. RISTON'S HOUSE-WARMING.

MRS. RISTON liked so little the plain way in which Anna spoke, that she did not again call to see her during the time she was engaged in purchasing furniture and fitting up her house. When all was ready, and she had taken possession, with more pride and triumph in her heart than a queen would feel in coming into her regal rights and honours, she did not forget Mrs. Hartley in her list of invitations to the splendid party she almost compelled her husband to consent that they should give.

This party did not cost less than eight hundred dollars, and was, certainly, one of the most brilliant affairs of the kind that had been seen in