He was recommended by her husband to the confidence of Mrs.
Stuart.

Maxwell was stimulated by revenge, and by a lawless passion, to convert this confidence into a source of guilt.
The education and capacity of this woman, the worth of her husband, the pledge of their alliance which time had produced, her maturity in age and knowledge of the world--all combined to render this attempt hopeless.

Maxwell, however, was not easily discouraged.

The most perfect being, he believed, must owe his exemption from vice to the absence of temptation.

The impulses of love are so subtile, and the influence of false reasoning, when enforced by eloquence and passion, so unbounded, that no human virtue is secure from degeneracy.