proofs; I love my child,—ambitious men do love their children; I may became a lord myself, and may wish for a lord to succeed me; and that son is mine; thank Heaven! I am sure on that point,—the only child too that ever shall arise to me. Never, I swear, will I again put myself beyond my own power! All my nature, save one passion, I have hitherto mastered, that passion shall henceforth be my slave, my only thought be ambition, my only desire the world!"
As thus terminated the reverie of a man whom the social circumstances of the world were calculated, as if by system, to render eminently and basely wicked, Welford slowly ascended the stairs, and re-entered his chamber, his wife was still sleeping; her beauty was of the fair and girlish, and harmonized order, which lovers and poets would express by the word "angelic," and as Welford looked upon her face, hushed and almost hallowed by slumber, a certain weakness and irresolution might have been discernible in the strong lines of his haughty features. At that moment, as if for ever to destroy the return of hope or virtue to either, her lips moved, they
