Brotherly Love.

against those who had insulted him , lie reached the residence of Mrs . St . Claire . To his mortification and disappointment , he learned from that lady that her daughter had left home some hours previously . He was about to turn away , when Mrs . St . Claire invited him iu with a suavity of manner very different to her usual deportment towards him .

The fact was , that the good lady had been considering very seriously whether it was not a want of worldly wisdom on her pari to throw any obstacle in the way of her daughter ' s marriage with Simon , notwithstanding her aversion to his personal appearance . She reasoned with some wisdom that , as Ida was the party chiefly concerned in the affair , her sentiments should be primarily consulted . Her former suspicion

reverted to her mind , and she entertained little doubt that , in her preference for Simon , Ida was actuated by prudential considerations , instead of the disinterested motives for which the world gave her credit . " No doubt , " thought the good lady , " she is wise enough to prefer an ugly husband with money to a handsome one without ; gold , in her eyes , being abetter patrimony than a prettface . " Then the candour and

ingenuousy ness of Ida , occurred to her , and somewhat disturbed faith in her own deductions . But she determined not to oppose her daughter ' s inclinations , as they tended towards procuring for her a wealthy spouse . We have previously requested the reader not to form a prejudicial opinion of Mrs . St . Claire ' s judgment , and we now ask a similar favour with reference to her disposition . No doubtat this periodher mind had

, , contracted a worldly spirit ; but she had passed through a period of suffering , arising from indigence , that made her shudder at the thought of exposing her beloved child to the bitterness and privation she herself had experienced in poverty . She had seen the husband of her bosom stretched on his death-bed , without being able to supply Mm with the common necessaries which his situation required ¦ and she had seen him

consigned to a pauper ' s tomb , without those marks of respect to wMch from his station he was entitled , and winch are so gratefid to the feelings of the surviving relatives . Though after Ms death she had been relieved , not only from poverty , but placed in a situation of comfort , still it was by an unknown hand , and she could not calculate upon a continuance of the benefactions of the mysterious donor no more than she could penetrate the secrecy in which he had shrouded himself . It was owing to these circumstances that the character of Mrs . St . Claire had become

tinctured with worldlmess . The alteration in Mrs . St . Claire ' s manner surprised Simon , She had previously scarcely endeavoured to conceal her aversion towards him , and on some occasions , so fully revealed her sentiments , that he could entertain little doubt as to the light in which she regarded his attachment for her daughter . He expectedthereforethat she would have been happy of

, , an opportunity of any circumstance that woidd tend to lower him in Ida ' s estimation , and of treating Mm with increased marks of disapprobation . But her cordial greeting in the moment of his humiliation , suggested a suspicion that he might have mistaken her sentiments altogether , and this