“It has been different—­far different.  I will tell you all.  I am a native of England—­a younger brother, of an ancient and honourable family, but much decayed in fortune.  I was educated for the ministry.  Our residence was on the Thames, a few miles distant from London, and I was early entered in one of the institutions of the great city.  While attending college, it was my practice twice a month to visit my father’s mansion on foot.  I was fond of solitary musings, and the exercise was beneficial to my weak frame.  It was during one of those excursions that I rescued a young lady from the rude assaults of two ruffians.  After a brief struggle, they fled.  I turned to the one I had so opportunely served, and was struck with her unparalleled beauty.  Young; a form of symmetrical loveliness; dark, languishing eyes, a smooth forehead of lily purity, and auburn hair flowing in glossy ringlets—­it was not strange that an impression should be made on the heart of a young student.  She thanked me for my generous interposition in such sweet and musical tones, that every word thrilled pleasantly through my breast.  She prevailed upon me to accompany her to her mother’s cottage, but a few hundred paces distant; and during our walk thither, she hung confidingly on my arm.  Her aged mother overwhelmed me with expressions of gratitude.  She mildly chid her daughter for wandering so far away in quest of flowers, and then withdrawing, left us alone.  Again my eyes met those of the blushing maiden—­but it is useless to dwell upon the particulars of our mutual passion.  Suffice it to say that she was the only child of her widowed mother, in moderate but independent circumstances, and being hitherto secluded from the society of the other sex, soon conceived (for my visits were frequent) an affection as ardent as my own.  At length I apprized my father of the attachment, and asked his consent to our union.  He refused to sanction the alliance in the most positive terms, and commanded me never to mention the subject again.  He said that I was poor, and that he would not consent to my marriage with any other than an heiress.  I returned to London, resolved to disobey his injunction, for I felt that my happiness entirely depended upon my union with the lovely Juliet.  But I had never yet definitely expressed my desire to her.  Yet there could be no doubt from her smiles that my wishes would willingly be acceded to.  I determined to arrange every thing at our next interview, and a few weeks afterwards I repaired to the cottage for that purpose.  Instead of meeting me with her ever blissful face, I found my Juliet in tears!  She was alone; but in the adjoining chamber I heard a man’s voice, and feared that it was my father.  I was mistaken.  Juliet soon brushed away her tears, and informed me that she had been again assailed by the same ruffians, and on the lawn within sight of the cottage.  She said that the gentleman in the next room was her deliverer.  I seized