Page:A New England Tale.djvu/272

Rh CHAPTER XVI.

have anticipated our story, tempted by a natural desire to conclude the history of Mrs. Wilson, that its deep shade might not interfere with the bright lights that are falling on the destiny of our heroine. After the dissolution of her engagement with Erskine, Jane continued her humble vocation of school-mistress for some months. Rebecca Lloyd had from the beginning been one of her pupils, and a favourite among them; and so devotedly did the child love her instructress, that Mr. Lloyd often thought impulse was as sure a guide for her affections as reason for his. Jane's care of his child furnished him occasion, and excuse when he needed it, for frequent intercourse with her; and, in this intercourse, there were none of those mysterious embarrassments (mysterious, because inexplicable to all but the parties) that so often check the progress of