the lady whose pew she was in,) for this assured me that they were acquainted, and that I might obtain some information about the fair being who had made such a sudden and deep impression on my heart, and perhaps procure an introduction to her.  When I retired to my couch that night, it was not to sleep.  The image of the fair stranger haunted my restless and imperfect slumbers.  Nor could I study by day, for my thoughts wandered continually from the page to the same bright vision.  Such was my condition throughout the week.  The next Sunday I found her seated in the same pew.  Our eyes met, and a slight blush that mantled her fair face encouraged me to hope that she might likewise have bestowed some thoughts on me during the preceding week.  It was in vain that I uttered the responses during the service, or knelt down when the clergyman offered up his prayers.  I could think of nothing but the angelic stranger.  I resolved that another week should not pass without my calling at Mrs. Arras’s.  But my object was obtained sooner than I expected.  When the congregation was dismissed, Mrs. Arras beckoned me across the aisle to her.

“‘Charles,’ whispered she, ’don’t you want an introduction to my niece?  I saw your eyes riveted on her several times.’

“‘I—­if you please,’ I replied, with feelings of mingled delight and embarrassment.

“‘Laura,’ she continued, turning to the young lady who lingered behind, but seemed to be conscious of what was passing, ’let me introduce you to my young friend, Charles Glenn.’  The bland and accomplished Mrs. Arras then moved onward, while I attended at the side of Laura, and continued with her until I assisted her up, the marble steps of her aunt’s stately mansion.

“I then bowed, and strode rapidly onward, I knew not whither, (completely bewildered with the enchanting spell that the fair Laura had thrown over me,) until I reached the extremity of Broadway, and found myself in Castle Garden, gazing like a very maniac at the bright water below me.  I wandered about alone, enjoying the exhilarating fancies of my teeming brain, until the sun sunk beneath the horizon, and the bright stars twinkled in the blue vault above.  Oh! the thoughts, the hopes, the bliss of that hour!  The dark curtain that veils the rankling corruptions of mortality had not yet been lifted before my staring eyes, and I felt as one gazing at a beautiful world, and regarded the fair maid as the angel destined to unfold all its brilliance to my vision, and to hold the chalice to my lips while I sipped the nectar of perennial felicity.  Alas, that such moments are brief!  They fly like the dreams of a startled slumberer, and when they vanish once, they are gone forever!

“Without calling at my lodgings for the usual refreshments, I hovered about the mansion of Mrs. Arras till lights were gleaming in the parlour, and then entered.  Laura received me with a smile, and the complaisant matron gave me an encouraging welcome.