opinion if at liberty to express her honest sentiments, but the money does just as much good given from whatever motive it may be, although not equally blessed to the donor."
"Do you not think it was generous in Mr. Carleton to give that ten dollars so freely?"
"That depends on his motive in doing it. Had I more confidence in the man I should be more ready to give him credit for his acts. As it is, I attribute them to the basest hypocrisy."
He said this unconscious of the sting inflicted by his words upon the tenderest emotions of Grace Blanche. Although realizing Mr. Carleton's motives he had not suspected the nature of her feelings towards him, and was glad to throw out these hints as a warning. Neither was she fully conscious before how much she had yielded to the strength of his influence, nor how essential to her happiness his presence had become. Having too much confidence in Mr. Livingston as a friend, and in his judgment as a man, to suspect him of prejudice or envy, these words assumed the character of an oracle, the certainty of which she never thought of questioning, predicting the impending doom of being compelled to witness the disenthronement of her idol from its place in her affections.
*****
At twenty, when youth paints all nature in her roseate hues there is no seeming, lending a pleasant reality, which leaves no disposition to doubt its genuineness. At forty, the gilding is fallen off, shams are detected, and the experience of the intervening
