Three or four years passed quietly but happily away. M. Martinez almost resided with them. He talked with Mr. Neill, and read, sketched, rode or practiced music with Cora. Her intercourse with M. Martinez gave a new impulse to her mind, and instead of giving herself up to the “luxury of grief,” and indulging in idle reveries of the past, as she had formerly, she studied and strengthened her intellectual nature. Her father’s health still remained delicate, which was the only drawback on her placid happiness. It was necessary to observe great precaution with him, for the slightest exposure or excitement brought on symptoms of his first attack. The constant watchful care which M. Martinez and Cora observed over him, might have prolonged his life many years, had not pecuniary misfortunes overtaken him. The principal part of his fortune had been invested in stocks that proved to be worthless, and left him penniless. The news of their insolvency reached Mr. Neill by letters, before M. Martinez had heard of it, and the anguish he felt at finding himself in his old age deprived of the fruits of long laborious years, produced a fresh hemorrhage from the lungs, more alarming than the first, and nearly caused his immediate death. He rallied, however, and appeared better; still the physicians could give no hope for his recovery; he might linger, they said, but only for a little while. After the immediate danger was over, M. Martinez departed for Havana, to make inquiries into Mr. Neill’s affairs. A few days after his departure, Cora received from him a letter, which filled her with amazement. It contained an offer of marriage from M. Martinez.