It would have been well for Hildebrand if he had paused on this interposition of his better judgment. It would have been a happy reflection for him, at a more advanced period of his life, that the first compunctious qualms of his warm and generous nature had not been unheeded, and that he had made a timely retreat from the temptation which he had so diligently sought. But his remorse and hesitation lasted only while he remained silent. Directly he replied to Inez, they began to subside, and, with the renewal of the conversation, his passion revived. If Hildebrand betrayed such indecision under this first trial, it may reasonably be expected, from her youth and inexperience, not to mention the greater weakness of her sex, that Inez should be off her guard in an equal degree. Her passion, indeed, was true and genuine, and was becoming deeper and more deep every moment. It was attachment--not only to his person, but to his thoughts, wishes, and character; an interest in everything that, now or hereafter, in any measure concerned him, and which was gradually and imperceptibly absorbing all thought and care of herself, and making him the leading influence of her most precious affections. Her attachment had just attained that crisis, if we may use such a term, at which it would be difficult, but might not be impossible, to uproot or restrain it. Here she might pause, but a single step more, with whatever caution it were taken, must be decisive and final, and could never be retraced. Whether she knew this, or not, or ever gave it a thought, she did not pause once, but left her affections without the least guard, and exposed to all the impressions which a fervid and sanguine temperament, free from the least taint of selfishness, could derive from the dangerous and very striking peculiarity of her position. The timidity she had manifested on discovering Hildebrand in the closet gradually wore away, and, whether from the excitement of conversation, or the fellowship that sprang from a sense of surrounding peril, by which they were both alike affected, she shortly became more confident. She had dropped her hold of Hildebrand’s arm, but had suffered him, by way of requital, to retain possession of her small hand, which he probably considered a greater favour. Whatever light he viewed it in, however, it did not lead him to forget, in the pleasure of the passing moment, that his situation was one of some danger, and that it was expedient to make an early effort to gain the street. After conversing with Inez for a while, he reminded her of this, and proposed that he should now set out. “Ah, art thou so hasty?” said Inez, plaintively. “Even thus restless, I fear me, will be thy professed love, which will soon wander from me, to light on some other.” “I’faith, fair Inez, ’tis thy reproach that is hasty,” answered Hildebrand. “But”-- “Hush!” whispered Inez, shrinking back on his arm.