After All.

could ? If the owner of them will onl y keep his purpose and heart true to it , object , and not allow it to diminish in feeling and intensity , as alluring romance gives way to practical reality , the spectacles shall serve their poetical purposes and he shall reap his reward . Happy are they who can thus act ! Arthur Humberton was wearing these spectacles with a vengeance . Olivia was a perfect angel to him , the future a sweet vista of happiness . He must

court'and win " ephemeral fame , " not for its own sake , but to gain the treasure it would give him the power of possessing . Never did it occur to him that he might be wronging Mr . Phane to thus surreptitiously gain the affection of his young and only daughter . He considered that love knew no barriers , levelling all ranks , and thatfor her it would be "hell to choose love by another ' s eye , " but he never thought of her age . Not

that he was not honourable , far from it , but he was thoughtless , reckless ; in short , he was in love . " All's fair in love or war , " and to this opinion he romantically inclined . He did not sleep much that night ; he was too busy castle-building . When the excitement of the evening had somewhat worn off , he had delirious dreams of dragons to be fought and conqueredand safety to be sought in fliht with

, g his loved one rescued from imprisonment . Awaking , his thoughts were still of her . She filled his mind as though it had been a blank before . All else was insignificant and subordinate . Before breakfast he went out towards her house with a brisk step , feeling considerabl y lighter-hearted as he got nearer and nearer to where she lived . What a strange emotion the very building caused in him ; he loved the very stonesevery one of them . He lingered near ; he

, looked up at the windows , although it was still early , and he knew it was foolish ; but only to be near her . He walked round the house , but nothing else was to be seen , so he reluctantly left the precious place which held all that was dear to him . His once cosy lodgings were now cold ancl cheerless , his comfortable breakfast insipid ancl unnecessary ; the news distasteful . His thoughts were entirely single ; his only desire was to see Olivia again .

At the office the sight of his companions now reminded him of the happy night before . He felt a sort of charitable feeling forBulliker , and began to think he was not such a bad fellow , after all . Merrisslope was earnest and graphic in speaking of the beauties of the charming black-eyed damsel who had bewitched him . But both he and Redtaper could see that Humberton had a love too deep to be told , ancl his demeanour on the morning and the incidents of the night before were sufficient to tell them where his heart lay . He

wasthereforecon-, , siderably bantered on the subject , and his altered manner was freely commented on . But he could bear a good deal for such a one as Olivia . Would he not risk his life for her gladly ? and should a little bantering defeat him ? No ; he could afford to laugh at their pointless pleasantries , and , condescendingly , smile at their unblest ignorance . For was he not infinitely superior to them in owning the love of the most beautiful irl on earth ? They did not know what

g it was to be happy . Certainly Humberton was not altogether happy . Despite his manly resolution that nothing should deter him from working his way upward to fame ancl success , still the means to obtain that end seemed unpalatable to him . He had no taste or desire for his work , which was a laborious nuisance , totally at variance with his cestbetieal views . He was itching to put down on paper

his overwhelming thoughts of her ; his writing-case was scored with " Olivia . " But selecting some of his finest sheets of paper , he commences with a letter to her . Several times he tears the paper up ancl begins afresh ; but at last his thoughts become fluent , and although he tries to elaborate every sentence , he writes rapidly page after page of impassioned , burning words . When , to the detriment of his work , he completes his epistle after several hours , he re-reads it ancl corrects it , and adds to it some more heartfelt words , and writes it all very carefully over again .