Her solitude daily increased, as the youth, who really loved her
with all the ardency of a first passion, and who regarded her at
the same time with no little veneration for those superior gifts
of mind and education which, it was the general conviction in
Charlemont, that she possessed, became, at length, discouraged in a
pursuit which hitherto had found nothing but coldness and repulse.
Not that he ceased to love--nay, he did not cease entirely
to hope. What lover ever did? He fondly ascribed to the object of
his affections a waywardness of humor, which he fancied would pass
away after a season, and leave her mind to the influence of a more
sober and wholesome judgment. Perhaps, too, like many other youth
in like circumstances, he did not always see or feel the caprice
of which he was the victim. But for this fortunate blindness, many
a fair damsel would lose her conquest quite as suddenly as it was
made.
But the summer passed away, and the forest put on the sere and
sombre robes of autumn, and yet no visible change--none at least
more favorable to the wishes of William Hinkley--took place in the
character and conduct of the maiden.
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