It so happened that this visit lasted several days, and a period of greater happiness to the young Lieutenant probably never occurred.

Mary Prescott, at that time, could not properly be called a woman, except in the grace and dignity of her character.

She inherited the rich fancy, the nervous sensibility, and stern will of her father, and what may seem like a contradiction, the gentleness and modesty of her mother.

She was the youngest child, and, naturally enough, the pet of the others; but, the parents were too sensible to spoil her by flattery or foolish indulgence.

She was of that age when the female mind is most susceptible to the great passion of our nature in its most romantic phase, when Lieutenant Canfield visited their house.