This is all I have to say on the first point in the letter."
CHAPTER II.
IN VAIN--IN VAIN.
This was Marcus Wilkeson's golden opportunity, and he manfully
determined to seize it. But, as he was on the point of blurting out the
stifled secret, that cold, pale face--which resembled marble in all but
the drops of sweat upon the brow--chilled him again. At the same moment,
the hopeless absurdity of love and marriage between a girl of seventeen
and a man of thirty-six, occurred to him in all its force. Stupidly
sensitive being that he was, he thought that this icy, intellectual Mr.
Minford would laugh at him.
"I confess, sir, that these wanderings seem 'singular,' as you term
them. But all the habits of old bachelors are regarded as singular, I
believe. Now, it has been my daily habit, since I retired from business,
to lay down my book at two o'clock, and take a little out-door exercise.
Miss Pillbody's school is not far from my house; the street is pretty
clean for New York, and the sidewalks are tolerably dry. Therefore I
select that neighborhood for my daily walk--my--my 'constitutional,' as
they call it.
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