Both the Doctor and Miss Eliza were disturbed by this new zeal of his. At the instance of the spinster, the Doctor undertook to lay before Reuben the information conveyed in the letter of Maverick, and that gentleman's disapproval of any association between the young people looking to marriage. It was not an easy or an agreeable task for the Doctor; and he went about it in a very halting manner. "Your Aunt Eliza has observed, Reuben, that you have lately become more pointed in your attentions to Adaly." "I dare say, father; worries her, doesn't it?" "We do not know how far these attentions may be serious, Reuben." "Nor I, father." The Doctor was shocked at this new evidence of his son's indifference to any fixed rule of conduct. "How long is it, father," continued Reuben, "since Aunt Eliza has commenced her plottings against Adele?" "Not plottings against her, I trust, Reuben." "Yes, she has, father. She's badgering her in her quiet way incessantly,--as far back as when she caught sight of her in that dance at the Elderkins'. For my part, I think it was a charming thing to see." "We have graver reasons for our anxiety in regard to your relations with her, my son; and not the least of them is Mr. Maverick's entire disapproval of any such attachment." And thereupon the Doctor had proceeded to lay before Reuben (who now showed a most lively interest) a full revelation of the facts announced in Maverick's letter. The son had a strong smack of the father's family pride, and the strange news was bewildering to him; but in his present stage of distrust, he felt a strong disposition to protest against all the respectable conventionalities that hedged him in. A generous instinct in him, too, as he thought of the poor girl under the ban of the townsfolk, craved some chivalric expression; and whatever sentiment he may really have entertained for her in past days took new force in view of the sudden barriers that rose between him and the tender, graceful, confiding, charming Adele, whose image had so long and (as he now thought) so constantly dwelt in the dreamy mirage of his future. Under the spur of these feelings, he presently gave over his excited walk up and down the study, and, coming close to the Doctor, whispered, with a grave earnestness that made the old gentleman recognize a man in his boy,-- "Father, I have doubted my own feelings about Adele: now I do not. I love her; I love her madly. I shall protect her; if she will marry me," (and he touched the Doctor on the shoulder with a quick, nervous tap of his hand,) "I shall marry her,--God bless her!" And Reuben, by the very speech, as well as by the thoughts that had gone before, had worked himself into a passion of devotion. "Be careful, my son," said the old gentleman; "remember how your enthusiasm has betrayed you in a still more serious matter." Reuben smiled bitterly.