Hiram sat stupefied, horrified, in a trance, in a maze.  Cast loose from his church, within whose pale he was accustomed to think salvation could only be found, the possibility that there might be hope for him in another quarter nearly took away his senses.  He had been accustomed to regard the Episcopalians as little better than Papists, and they were the veritable children of wrath.  Could he have been mistaken?  He was now willing to hope so.  It could certainly do no harm to confer with the clergyman.  He would hear what he had to say, and then judge for himself, and so he told his cousin.

’All right; you talk like a sensible man.  Now, Hiram, between us two, I am going to find you a wife.’

Hiram started.  His pulse began again to beat naturally.

’Yes, I have found you a wife, that is, if you will do as I advise you, instead of following your own head.  I tell you what it is, Hiram; you’re green in these matters.’

Hiram smiled an incredulous smile, and asked, in a tone which betrayed a good deal of interest, ‘Who is the young lady?’

’Never mind who she is until you come over to us.  Then my wife shall introduce you.  But I’ll tell you this much, Hiram:  she has a clear two hundred thousand dollars—­no father, no mother, already of age, in our first society, and very aristocratic.’

‘Is she pious?’ asked Hiram, eagerly.

’Excessively so.  Fact is, she is the strictest young woman in the church in—­Lent.  She belongs to all the charitable societies, and gives away I don’t know how much.’

‘Humph,’ responded Hiram.  The last recommendation did not seem specially to take with him.  Still his eyes glistened at the recital.  He could not resist asking several questions about the young lady, but Mr. Bennett was firm, and would not communicate further till Hiram’s decision was made.

Thus conversing, they fell into a pleasant mood, and so the evening wore away.  When Hiram rose to leave, he found it was nearly midnight.  His cousin insisted he should remain with him, and Hiram was glad to accept the invitation.  He did not feel like returning to his solitary room with his mind unsettled and his feelings discomposed.

In a most confidential mood the two walked up stairs together, and Mr. Bennett bade Hiram good night in a tone so cheerful that the latter entered his room quite reassured.  He proceeded, as was his habit, to read a chapter in the Bible, but his teeth chattered when, on opening the volume, he discovered it to be—­the prayer book!—­something he had been accustomed to hold in utter abomination.  He controlled his feelings sufficiently to glance through the book, and at last, selecting a chapter from the Psalter, he perused it and retired.  He dreamed that he was married to the rich girl, and had the two hundred thousand dollars safe in his possession.  And so real did this seem that he woke in the morning greatly disappointed to find himself minus so respectable a sum.