THE LEGEND OF THE ABBEY TOWER. 135 



upon Baldwin's sensibility not less by her art than by her beauty. 

 There is good reason to believe, that her feelings towards him were, 

 until cultivated by his assiduity, of the most humble and respectful 

 kind : and, if they eventually assumed a warmer tone, it was, no 

 doubt, the fair conquest of nature over a valiant but frail philosophy. 

 We may reasonably, (from the known character of the girl) imagine, 

 that, when first apprised of Baldwin's romantic attachment, she 

 exerted all her soft power to exhibit, in an alarming point of view, 

 the extreme rashness of debasing his family pride to the level of a 

 . grave-digger's daughter. We may be certain she shrank at the idea 

 of rewarding the extreme kindness of her deceased mistress by the 

 ruin of her surviving and most beloved son. " The spirit of your 

 honoured mother," she possibly exclaimed, " will rise in anger to 

 upbraid me, when, by acceding to your imprudent proposals, I 

 shall have caused the disunion of your family and the confiscation 

 of your means ! '' 



But, my dear Sir, supposing that beneath this very proper flow 

 of good reason, there happened to be a natural and irrepressible 

 germ of affection, and that the young gentleman still more in love, 

 the more she uttered dissuasive eloquence, snapped his fingers at 

 her philosophy, and snatched her struggling into his arms. 



Such a contest as this can but end one way ; for the parties 

 become mutually enamoured in proportion to the increasing force 

 of their opposing arguments. The high principle upon which Mary 

 might act would only superadd esteem to a love already too great. 

 The more she repressed, the more he would be resolved. She would 

 seek in vain to avoid him. Wretched under the concealed indul- 

 gence of his society, she would yet dread its being made known, as 

 the certainty of Baldwin's enduring passion might equal that of his 

 father's unquenchable wrath. Philosophy having failed, and love 

 being determinate, we must at length allow my heroine (of course 

 reluctantly) to yield. This may, perhaps, shew her to be no herione. 

 I am content to take people as God made them; and never was a 

 sweeter piece of "handiwork" than Mary, the sexton's daughter. 



The baronet, in delightful ignorance of all tliis, had, as before 

 stated, matured his cherished plan of uniting Baldwin to his cousin 

 Matilda. It was then, and not till then, that he deemed it desirable 

 in the course of things, to speak to Baldwin on the subject. The 

 latter had been from home during the greater part of one long sum- 

 mer's evening, rather to the disappointment of the lady Matilda, 

 and to the displeasure of his father, who expressed his inability to 

 conceive whither "the lad had concealed himself of late, what 



