WHEN once the subject had been introduced, Helena was prone
to descant upon her own situation, and listened with deference to
the remarks and admonitions of her companion. Constantia did
not conceal from her any of her sentiments. She enabled her to
view her own condition in its true light, and set before her the
indispensable advantages of marriage, while she, at the same time,
afforded her the best directions as to the conduct she ought to
pursue in order to effect her purpose.

The mind of Helena was thus kept in a state of perpetual and
uneasy fluctuation. While absent from Ormond, or listening to
her friend's remonstrances, the deplorableness of her condition
arose in its most disastrous hues before her imagination. But
the specter seldom failed to vanish at the approach of Ormond.
His voice dissipated every inquietude.

She was not insensible of this inconstancy. She perceived and
lamented her own weakness. She was destitute of all confidence
in her own exertions. She could not be in the perpetual en-
joyment of his company. Her intervals of tranquillity, therefore,
were short, while those of anxiety and dejection were insupportably
tedious. She revered, but believed herself incapable to emulate,
the magnanimity of her monitor. The consciousness of inferiority,
especially in a case like this, in which her happiness so much de-
pended on her own exertions, excited in her the most humiliating
sensations.

While indulging in fruitless melancholy, the thought one day
occurred to her, "Why may not Constantia be prevailed upon to
plead my cause? Her capacity and courage are equal to any
undertaking. The reasonings that are so powerful in my eyes,
would they be trivial and futile in those of Ormond? I cannot
have a more pathetic and disinterested advocate."

This idea was cherished with uncommon ardor. She seized the
first opportunity that offered itself to impart it to her friend.
It was a wild and singular proposal, and was rejected at the
first glance. This scheme, so romantic and impracticable as it
at first seemed, appeared to Helena in the most plausible colors.

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