regardless of every object but the flaming torch lit up in my heart
and the seraphic image of Laura. At length I was warned by the
scrutinizing gaze of a watchman to repair to my lodgings. But my
pillow afforded no rest. All night long I pondered on the exhilarating
events of the day. Many were the endearing accents that escaped my
lips as I addressed in fancy my beloved Laura. I resolved to declare
my passion ere many weeks should pass. I began to settle in my mind
the plans of life, and then, for the first time, the future presented
a dark spot to my view. I was poor! Laura was rich and her family
proud and aristocratic. Her father was a distinguished judge. And the
most high-born and haughty of the land would doubtless (if they had
not already) sigh at her feet! I sprang upright on my couch when this
discordant thought passed across my mind. But the next moment I was
consoled with the belief that I already possessed her heart. And with
a determination to have her, in spite of every obstacle, should this
be the case, I sank back through weariness, and was soon steeped in
deep, though unquiet slumber.

"The two next succeeding Sundays I attended Laura to church. The
evenings of both days, and nearly all the intervening ones, I was with
her at the mansion of Mrs. Arras. But the evening of the last Sunday
was to me a memorable one. That evening I opened all my heart to
Laura, and found that every pulsation met a responding throb in
hers--such, at least, I believed to be the case--and so she asserted.
During the short time she remained in New York, I was her accredited
lover, and ever, when together, the attachment she manifested was as
ardent as mine. Indeed, at times, her passion seemed unbounded, and I
was more than once tempted to propose a clandestine and immediate
union. I was the more inclined to this, inasmuch as her father (who
had now returned from a trip to Washington) began to regard my visits