of their persons I know nothing - excepting in one
solitary instance.«
    »And that instance,« said the horseman, »has influenced your opinion of the
whole body?«
    »Far from it,« said Edith; »he is - at least I once thought him - one in
whose scale few were fit to be weighed. He is - or he seemed - one of early
talent, high faith, pure morality, and warm affections. Can I approve of a
rebellion which has made such a man, formed to ornament, to enlighten, and to
defend his country, the companion of gloomy and ignorant fanatics, or canting
hypocrites, - the leader of brutal clowns, - the brother in arms to banditti and
highway murderers? Should you meet such an one in your camp, tell him that Edith
Bellenden has wept more over his fallen character, blighted prospects, and
dishonoured name, than over tho distresses of her own house, - and that she has
better endured that famine which has wasted her cheek and dimmed her eye, than
the pang of heart which attended the reflection by and through whom these
calamities were inflicted.«
    As she thus spoke, she turned upon her companion a countenance whose faded
cheek attested the reality of her sufferings, even while it glowed with the
temporary animation which accompanied her language. The horseman was not
insensible to the appeal; he raised his hand to his brow with the sudden motion
of one who feels a pang shoot along his brain, passed it hastily over his face,
and then pulled the shadowing hat still deeper on his forehead. The movement,
and the feelings which it excited, did not escape Edith, nor did she remark them
without emotion.
    »And yet,« she said, »should the person of whom I speak seem to you too
deeply affected by the hard opinion of - of - an early friend, say to him, that
sincere repentance is next to innocence; - that, though fallen from a height not
easily recovered, and the author of much mischief, because gilded by his
example, he may still atone in some measure for the evil he has done.«
    »And in what manner?« asked the cavalier, in the same suppressed, and almost
choked voice.
    »By lending his efforts to restore the blessings of peace to his distracted
countrymen, and to induce the deluded rebels to lay down their arms. By saving
their blood, he may atone for that which has been already spilt; - and he that
shall be most active in accomplishing this great end will best deserve the
thanks of this