“He made love to me four years ago, and I was compelled to reject him.” “I know it, Miss Laverty. He told me you were without a heart, and therefore I have been under no restraint in our little innocent flirtations, as no life-chord can be cracked.” “Henry Stanton is a friend of yours, then?” “Yes, Miss—almost a brother. I shall marry his sister Kate, next May.” “You, Mr. Pennant!” “Yes—she came, saw and conquered, the past fall, as I returned from my last cruise. A sweet girl she is, Miss Laverty.” “Mr. Pennant, will you step and find my father, and ask him to order the carriage? I have danced enough, to-night, and will retire.” Frank withdrew, and Amy sighed again! That night tears wet her pillow. Tears around the couch of youth, and wealth and beauty! Ah! gold may purchase the gorgeous bouquet, to adorn the opera box, even in mid-winter; but all the wealth of India cannot buy one single shoot of heart’s ease! It is a fairy plant, and blossoms loveliest in the humble shades of life! And Amy slept at last; but she slept uneasily, amid confused dreams that Kate and Henry Stanton were attempting to poison her! About the same time, Queen Mab was with Frank Pennant, too, and he laughed happily in his sleep, as he dreamed that Kate was pelting him, in mimic play, with rose-buds and myrtle leaves, while his dear friend Harry looked on smilingly. If dreams are an index to our waking thoughts, it needs no somnosophist to interpret what was passing in the dark chambers of their thoughts! CHAPTER III. Though each young flower had died, There was the root—strong, living not the less That all it yielded now was bitterness; Yet still such love as quits not misery’s side, Nor drops from guilt its ivy-like embrace, Nor turns away from death’s, its pale heroic face. —MRS. HEMANS. Another four years passed away! The whirlwind which wrecked many a tall commercial house, and strangled many a long accumulated fortune, had passed over Philadelphia, carrying dismay, desolation and anguish. The firm of which Mr. Laverty was the head, bent, but did not break. Confidence in him was not impaired, for he was an unexceptionable business man; but it was well known that he had sacrificed more than half his fortune to secure the remainder.