Page:Orange Grove.djvu/218

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trusted should treat her with coldness at the very moment she most needed sympathy. It was a most unfortunate thing for her that Mr. Livingston should have been called away at that time, since, had they met as usual afterwards, this little incident might have been forgotten.

On his return, her reserve excited no less surprise and regret on his part. His affections were intensely strong as his unwavering attachment to Rosalind proved, and the thought of this friendship being broken, pained him deeply. Again and again he tried to approach her with his wonted familiarity and was as often repulsed.

In the meantime Mr. Carleton improved his opportunity to regain the esteem he feared had been lowered through Mr. Livingston's influence. Keeping himself well informed of the movements of the latter, his absence was known to him sooner than to most of his friends, but it was sometime before he succeeded in ingratiating himself into her favor sufficiently to be oil intimate terms as a friend. Miss Blanche never lost faith in Mr. Livingston's integrity which made her hesitate long, before surrendering herself again to the fascinating influence of Mr. Carleton. There was an irresistible desire to cling to something, and in desperation she yielded.

Never could a person show more tenderness and devotion than he, being capable of the most exalted emotions, though transient. There were gleams of a better nature rising within him, acted upon by the transcendent qualities of this pure and noble woman, which doubtless lessened her confidence in Mr. Liv-