He regarded the laugh of the common people whom he passed on the street, and the suppressed titter, or yet more offensive terror, of the young girls to whom he was introduced in company, as proofs of the true sense which the world entertained of him, as a prodigy unfit to be received among them on the usual terms of society, and as vindicating the wisdom of his purpose in withdrawing himself from among them.

On the faith and sincerity of two persons alone, he seemed to rely implicitly--on that of his betrothed bride, and of a friend eminently gifted in personal accomplishments, who seemed, and indeed probably was, sincerely attached to him.

He ought to have been so at least, for he was literally loaded with benefits by him whom you are now about to see.

The parents of the subject of my story died within a short space of each other.

Their death postponed the marriage, for which the day had been fixed.