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THE EVENING WALK.

of seeing Caroline, nor was his heart long untouched by her mild beauties. He loved, and told her so. Whatever impression the handsome face and good mien of the young sailor had made upon Caroline, she was far too wise and good to think of trusting her happiness to one who almost mocked all she had been taught to revere as holy; and when Edward applied to her mother to intercede for him, all he could obtain was a promise, that at some future period, if the protestations of amendment which he made were fulfilled, she would consent to become his wife. It is the easiest thing in the world to resolve to be good; the most difficult to become so.

"For some time Edward was all that the heart of Caroline could desire; then came not unfrequent falls from virtue, and she had often to mourn the delinquency of both lover and brother. Things were in this state, when Edward, who still remembered his former way of life, with the help of Henry, constructed a slight boat, and they not unfrequently made short fishing excursions down the river. They had one evening been absent longer than usual—it might have been such an evening as this—when the widow, taking the arm of her daughter, walked down to the river to watch for their return; they had not waited long, when they saw the boat making towards them; it rested