He was desirous of carrying off the prize,
for which Hartley, whom he never loved, had the courage to contend with
him. Then Menie Gray had been beheld with admiration by men his
superiors in rank and fortune, but with whom his ambition incited him to
dispute the prize. No doubt, though urged to play the gallant at first
rather from vanity than any other cause, the frankness and modesty with
which his suit was admitted, made their natural impression on his heart.
He was grateful to the beautiful creature, who acknowledged the
superiority of his person and accomplishments, and fancied himself as
devotedly attached to her, as her personal charms and mental merits
would have rendered any one who was less vain or selfish than her lover.
Still his passion for the surgeon's daughter ought not, he prudentially
determined, to bear more than its due weight in a case so very important
as the determining his line of life; and this he smoothed over to his
conscience, by repeating to himself, that Menie's interest was as
essentially concerned as his own, in postponing their marriage to the
establishment of his fortune. How many young couples had been ruined by
a premature union!
The contemptuous conduct of Hartley in their last interview, had done
something to shake his comrade's confidence in the truth of this
reasoning, and to lead him to suspect that he was playing a very sordid
and unmanly part, in trifling with the happiness of this amiable and
unfortunate young woman.
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