THE TEXAN HUNTRESS, 8389 
into my ears, and the running commentary upon this anxious 
care for humanity was furnished in the dissolute habits of the 
family. A more vicious, mean, and cowardly set of knaves 
and beasts I never saw congregated in one household. It 
was a, perfect epitome of the vices of civilization. With an 
immense inherited fortune and entire leisure, they united 
untameable passions and great intellectual activity—without 
one particle of faith or of honor. Each mounted a hobby 
because it was the fashion, and rode it until ‘the galled jade 
winced!’ The passion for notoriety, which predominated 
among them, was inexorable. All the lustful vices a corrupt 
humanity ever dreamed of, were practised among them. These 
were absolutely carried to hideous excesses, and I became a 
victim. ; 
“The family were very handsome, and the oldest son was 
magnificently so. He early cast his eyes upon me. His 
advances were very subtle. He discovered my tendency 
towards what are called liberal views, and upon that key-note 
his skill was Satanic as his will was invincible. He imbued 
me fully with the knowledge of all modern ¢sms—libertinism 
among the rest—in the end! Nothing that clairvoyance has 
guessed, Swedenborg dreamed, or Fourier idealised, but that 
[heard it all in his soft musical tones, breathed insidiously 
against my cheek. I believed it all, and believed him. My 
ruin was the consequence, as I have hinted. I bore him a 
child! The wretch had removed me from my place, and 
deserted me before the child was born! Why should I de- 
scribe the sufferings of a strong nature under such a wrong? 
Like natures understand them better without description! A 
friend who knew and loved me, a just and righteous man, 
adopted the child of shame, and has done well by him. 
One dark night, beneath a murky lamp, I met and stabbed 
the villain, in the place where I had awaited nim for hours. 
He knew me as he fell, and I laughed in his dying ear. I 
fled the country, of course, and came to Texas. In Galveston 
