I was in some respects a very fortunate man. If I had been a wise

one! It has been seen that I was singularly successful in business at

my first beginning in my native city. I had not been long in the

town of M--, before I began to congratulate myself on the prospect of

like fortune attending me there. The affairs of Kingsley brought me

into contact with several men of business. My letters of introduction

made me acquainted with many more; not simply of the town, but

of the neighboring country. My ardency of temper was particularly

suited to a frank, confiding people, such as are most of the

southwestern men; and one or two accidental circumstances yielded

me professional occupation long before I expected to find it. I

had occasion to appear in court at an early day, and succeeded in

making a favorable impression upon my hearers. To be a good speaker,

in the south and southwest, is to be everything. Eloquence implies

wisdom--at least all the wisdom which is supposed to be necessary

in making lawyers and law-makers--a precious small modicum of a

material by no means precious. I was supposed to have the gift of

the gab in moderate perfection, and my hearers were indulgent. My

name obtained circulation, and, in a short time, I discovered that,

in a professional as well as personal point of view, I had no reason

to regret the change of residence which I had made. Business began

to flow in upon me. Applications reached me from adjoining counties,

and though my fees, like the cases which I was employed in, were

of moderate amount, they promised to be frequent, while my clients

generally were very substantial persons.

It will not need that I should dwell farther on these topics. It

will be sufficient to show that, in worldly respects, I was as

likely to prosper in my new as in my past abode. In social respects

I had still more reason to be gratified. The days went by with me

as smoothly as with Thalaba. My wife was all that I could wish.

She was the very Julia whom I had married. Nay, she was something

more--something better. Her health improved, and with it her

spirits. She evidently had no regrets. A sigh never escaped her.

Her content and cheerfulness were wonderful. She had none of that

vague, vain yearning which the feeble feel, called "home-sickness." She

convinced me that I was her home--the only home that she desired.

It was evident that she thought less of our ancient city than I

did myself. I am sure that if either of us, at any moment, felt a

desire to look upon it again, the person was myself. I maintained

a correspondence with the place--received the newspapers, groped over

them with persevering industry--nay--missed not the advertisements,

and was disappointed and a discontent on those days when the mail

failed. My wife had no such appetite. She sometimes read the papers,

but she appeared to have no curiosity; and, with the exception of

an occasional letter which she received from her mother, she had

no intercourse whatever with her former home.




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