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224 time defenceless,—incitement sufficient for the thoughtless and unreflecting to flutter around her. Time was when Douglas, like his comrades, might also have poured into her ear the language of flattery,—when his vanity, inflated, might have built his triumphs on the weakness of her heart; now, on the contrary, such conduct was viewed by him under an aspect totally different.

To rob a young, unsuspecting, confiding creature of her peace; to sport with her nicest, tenderest, and most susceptible feelings, carried so far until even her claims upon the respect and esteem of the world might be lessened, lost, perhaps never to be recalled; or, to plunge still further into the arts of seduction, to take a greater advantage of her sensibilities, to impair her morals, and, finally, communicate to her once unsullied affections that taint, never in this life, nor perhaps even beyond the grave, to be repaired; endangering thus the happiness of an immortal soul! How solemn the reflection! And yet how many, thought Douglas, betray, forsake, abandon those of the weaker sex, upon whom their arts and insinuations have unhappily succeeded, rather than follow those obligations and duties they should feel themselves as men of honour bound to perform!

Ideas such as these often suggested themselves