A Hero of the Pen

ins. "What has occurred between you and Henry? He

th sullen frankness

d h

s lips curled in scor

t, least of all from you. He may have borne it for the moment, but he will nev

Atkins, I do not fear this sort of

least in speaking of him. You mi

on too well knows

s. "You know as well as I, that Alison loves you in spite of

d have ch

as s

"I know to what considerations I shall alone ow

as now when, five months ago you promised him your hand? and this promise which the heir and future head of the house of Alison and Company then r

hich she had announced her betrothal to her father came back to her remembrance. At that time all this

ted you into sensible conceptions of life and its realities. Love is a luxury,--which the rich only can allow themselves--and Alison

s!" said Jane i

a position to unhesitatingly turn their backs to an heiress, if they happen to be not quite pleased with her. Will you reproach Mr. Alison, because he knows

tily, and in a voice of icy co

y Miss Forest in her impenetrable repose, as she now stood before him, and yet, there had been a tone

ved at the main thing," he said. "Here you find the letter I have mentioned, and all the other noti

"--the apology seemed difficult to her, but she must have felt its necessity--"thin

ight; she is changed; and if I were to begin to surmise, then I should say"--here Mr. Atkins hurled a very ungracious glance over to the watery mirror of the river glittering in the sun, and which was visible between