some way, he is such a coward that he would
be entirely in my power. Dear," he said aloud to
Mrs. M., " how did you like the sermon ?" An-
gelic," replies Mrs. Mewker. " That's my opinion,
too." responds Mewker. "Angelic, angelic. Spat
is a lovely man, my dear. What is there for
dinntsr ?"

If there were some feminine meter by which
Harriet Lasciver's soul could be measured, it
would indicate "good" pretty high up on the
scale. Yet she had listened to this after-church
discourse of her brother not only with compla-
cency, but with a full and unequivocal assent to all
he had proposed. So she would have listened, so
assented to anything, no matter what, proposed by
him ; and all things considered, it was not surpris-
ing. Eveu as continued attrition wears the angles
of the flint until it is moulded into the perfect peb-
bles, so had her nature been moulded by her
brother. He had bullied her in her childhood
and in her M'omanhood, except when there was a
purpose in view which he could better accomplish
by fawning ; and her natural good disposition, sO
indurated by these opposed modes of treatment, '
had become as insensible to finer emotions as her



Captain Belgeavb. 295

heart was callous to its own impulses. There was
one element in his composition which at times had
cast a gloss upon his actions. It was his piety ! God
help us ! tliat any one should allude to tliat but
with reverence and love ! Nor do I here speak of
it but as a profession, an art, or specious showing
forth of something that was not real, hnt _professedf
in order to accomplish other ends. "What profited
her own experience, when Harriet Lasciver was so
far imposed upon as to believe her brother's pro-
fessions sincere ? "What though all his life he had
been a crooked contriver and plotter, malicious in
his enmity, and false in bis friendship ; and she
hneio it ? Yet, as she could not reconcile it with his
affected sanctity, she could not believe it. That
wonderful power which men seldom, and women
never analyze — hypocrisy, held her entangled in
its meshes, and she was his instrument to be guided
as he chose. 