84
WYLDER'S HAJVD.
"Well Dorcas, dear, I am utterly amazed. But does
Stanley — he can hardly hope?"
Dorcas removed her arms from her cousin's neck; her
face was pale, and her cheeks wet with teara, which she
did not wipe away.
"Sit down by me, Rachel. No, he does not like me
— that is — I don't know; but, I am sure, he can't sus-
pect that I like him. It was my determination it should
not be. I resolved, Rachel, quite to extinguish the mad-
ness; but I could not. It was not his doing, nor mine,
but something else. There are some families, I think, too
wicked for Heaven to protect, and they are given over to
the arts of those who hated them in life and pursue them
after death; and this is the meaning of the curse that has
always followed us. No good will ever happen us, and I
must go like the rest."
There was a short silence, and Rachel gazed on the car-
pet in troubled reflection, and then, with an anxious look,
she took her cousin's hand, and said —
"Dorcas, you must think of this no more. I am
speaking against my brother's interest. But you must
not sacrifice yourself, your fortune, and your happiness
to a shadow; whatever his means are, they hardly suffice
for his personal expenses — indeed, they don't suffice, for
I have had to help him. But that is all trifling compared
with other considerations. I am his sister, and, though he
has shown little love for me, I am not without affection —
and strong affection — for him; but I must and will speak
frankly. You could not, I don't think any one could be
happy with Stanley for her husband. You don't know
him: he's profligate; he's ill-tempered ; he's cold; he's sel-
fish ; he's secret. He was a spoiled boy, totally without mor-
al education; he might, perhaps, have been very different,
but he is what he is, and I don't think he'll ever change."