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 eye, and into the memory and poetical soul of Mrs. Akers, before she went to Italy.”

And upon this lame note the “Vindication” ends.

Surely, if any man in this world ever had reason to pray to be delivered from his loving friends it was Alexander M. W. Ball, of Elizabeth, New Jersey!

Mrs. Akers, meanwhile, had also been having her troubles.

There are in the world a lot of people always ready to believe any theory, however far-fetched. In fact, their intensity of belief seems to be in direct proportion to its absurdity, and they even assume a certain superiority, as belonging to an inner circle of intelligentsia. So in any public assembly where she might appear Mrs. Akers was conscious of lifted eyebrows and ironical smiles, and could guess what was being whispered behind her back. “But, my dear, I assure you it is true—she stole it bodily—yes, a Mr, Ball—a wonderful man, so high-minded and chivalrous…”

Small wonder she sometimes lost her temper and wrote and said some exceedingly biting things about Mr. Ball and his friends, but fortunately she had the good sense not to bring suit, as she had threatened. When William Cullen Bryant was compiling his Library of