“Halloo, there, Woodburn, is that you?” exclaimed a cheerly voice, as a stout-built, crank, honest-looking young man, without hat or coat, came out of the door, and with a free and careless air made his way towards the other; “but what is your hurry? Nothing unpleasant has befallen you in your affair over yonder that makes you feel like being off in this sly and hasty manner, has there?” “No, Risdon, not quite so bad as that yet,” replied Woodburn, taking all in good part. “How much better, then? Come, Harry, I have taken stones enough out of your path, and thrown them into that of your rival there, to earn a candid answer to such a question.” “True, sir; but you ask more than I am permitted to know myself. I can neither get accepted nor rejected. She, however has given me fresh reason to admire her. She is no common girl, friend Risdon.” “There is not a finer or fairer in all the Green Mountains; but what is that fresh reason you name?” “The discovery that at heart she is warmly with us in the good cause.” “That is, you hope, and therefore believe so, eh?” “I have a much better reason than that, sir, for my assertion. She has, within this hour, told me so herself.” “Ah! Well, then, it is indeed so; for Sabrey Haviland never uttered aught but perfect truth and sincerity in all her life. Why, God bless her for her spunk and independence, living and visiting, as she mostly has, from a child, in that circle of high-toned and bitter tories. And it argues well for your suit, too, Woodburn, which till now I have considered rather an unpromising one; for it tells me that she will struggle hard to get free from the fetters which Peters and her father have fastened on her, and by which, counting on her high sense of the sacredness of all promises and contracts, they suppose have secured her beyond the least fear of escape.” “Do you allude to any thing other than the mere consent which she formerly gave to Peters's proposals of marriage, and which, I had supposed, constituted the only engagement existing between them?” “Yes, a far stronger case, which I have learned by way of my wife, since I last conversed with you on the subject.” “Ah! What is it?” eagerly demanded the lover.