He occasionally sought my company, but as frequently shrunk from it, fearing lest I should wile him back to destruction, and I found his not very entertaining, especially as he sometimes attempted to awaken my conscience and draw me from the perdition he considered himself to have escaped; but when I did happen to meet him, I seldom failed to ask after the progress of his matrimonial efforts and researches, and, in general, he could give me but a poor account.

The mothers were repelled by his empty coffers and his reputation for gambling, and the daughters by his cloudy brow and melancholy temper--besides, he didn't understand them; he wanted the spirit and assurance to carry his point.
'I left him at it when I went to the continent; and on my return, at the year's end, I found him still a disconsolate bachelor--though, certainly, looking somewhat less like an unblest exile from the tomb than before.
The young ladies had ceased to be afraid of him, and were beginning to think him quite interesting; but the mammas were still unrelenting.

It was about this time, Helen, that my good angel brought me into conjunction with you; and then I had eyes and ears for nobody else.

But, meantime, Lowborough became acquainted with our charming friend, Miss Wilmot--through the intervention of his good angel, no doubt he would tell you, though he did not dare to fix his hopes on one so courted and admired, till after they were brought into closer contact here at Staningley, and she, in the absence of her other admirers, indubitably courted his notice and held out every encouragement to his timid advances.

Then, indeed, he began to hope for a dawn of brighter days; and if, for a while, I darkened his prospects by standing between him and his sun--and so nearly plunged him again into the abyss of despair--it only intensified his ardour and strengthened his hopes when I chose to abandon the field in the pursuit of a brighter treasure.