 of endless ridicule, should the fact ever come to her knowledge. I
therefore described a spot which, as often as any other, was Zenobia's resort,
at this period of the day; nor was it so remote from the farm-house as to leave
her in much peril, whatever might be the stranger's character.
    »A single word more!« said he; and his black eyes sparkled at me, whether
with fun or malice I knew not, but certainly as if the Devil were peeping out of
them. »Among your fraternity, I understand, there is a certain holy and
benevolent blacksmith; a man of iron, in more senses than one; a rough,
cross-grained, well-meaning individual, rather boorish in his manners - as might
be expected - and by no means of the highest intellectual cultivation. He is a
philanthropical lecturer, with two or three disciples, and a scheme of his own,
the preliminary step in which involves a large purchase of land, and the
erection of a spacious edifice, at an expense considerably beyond his means;
inasmuch as these are to be reckoned in copper or old iron, much more
conveniently than in gold or silver. He hammers away upon his one topic, as
lustily as ever he did upon a horse-shoe! Do you know such a person?«
    I shook my head, and was turning away.
    »Our friend,« he continued, »is described to me as a brawny, shaggy, grim,
and ill-favored personage, not particularly well-calculated, one would say, to
insinuate himself with the softer sex. Yet, so far has this honest fellow
succeeded with one lady, whom we wot of, that he anticipates, from her abundant
resources, the necessary funds for realizing his plan in brick and mortar!«
    Here the stranger seemed to be so much amused with his sketch of
Hollingsworth's character and purposes, that he burst into a fit of merriment,
of the same nature as the brief, metallic laugh already alluded to, but
immensely prolonged and enlarged. In the excess of his delight, he opened his
mouth wide, and disclosed a gold band around the upper part of his teeth;
thereby making it apparent that every one of his brilliant grinders and incisors
was a sham. This discovery affected me very oddly. I felt as if the whole man
were a moral and physical humbug; his wonderful beauty of face, for aught I
knew, might be removeable like a mask; and, tall and comely as his figure
looked, he
