I was passing her residence--it was the first time I had permitted myself even to go into the neighborhood where she lived, since her return from Newport.

Now something drew me that way, and yielding to the impulse, I took the street on which her dwelling stood, and ere a thought of honor checked my footsteps, was by her door.

A single glance at one of the parlor windows gave me the vision of her pale face, so attenuated by sickness and suffering, that the sight filled me with instant pity, and fired my soul with a deeper love.

What my countenance expressed I do not know.

It must have betrayed my feelings, for I was off my guard.