New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-01-24

Heaven and earth could not have moved her.
Had she been a woman of high-toned feelings
md strong sensibility, she might have done
much to redeem, him; for his imagination and
taste were Of that fine order that inpelled him
to respond to the beautiful in the moral as IN
the physical world. The very poetry Of his
nature would have secured Florence his afec-
ton if her character had been in keeping with
her beauty and, selfish as he was, love would
have elevated and purified him. True, earnest
feeling had been the great quality in which ne
: had been deficient; but Florence was not the
person to gain influence over him. He grew
somewhat afraid of her, it is true, for the cold
temper, as we have said always masters the
irritable one; but, beautiful, high bred, and
refined as she looked, the undercurrent of her
! character was commonplace in the extreme.
There WAS not a generous touch in her; and, in
her way, she was as exaeting as Herbert. She
/, took nd pains to keep his affection, and she
resented losing til She never made an effort to
mike home agreeable; but still she was intlig
snant il he spent an evening at the club. She
took no interest in the subjects that interested
him, nor made an attempt to understand the
public affairs in which he frequently took n
large share And yet nothing yexed her more
deeply than to have him address any conyersa-
ton on such topics to other women. Not that
she was Jealous, for Herbert was no firt, and she
knew it. But he talked we'll, and was naturally
fond Of society, and was very apt to enter with
spirit in. conservation with any one, man or
woman, who could understandable But woe be
it to him if it happened to be a woman, for his
wife scarcely ever spoke to him for week after
And many an uncomfortable day he passed, in
the early days Of their married life, in conse-
quence of a pleasant hour passed at an evening
party.
If Florence did not improve her husband, she
at least conquered him; and those who had
known him during his first marriage looked on
in surprise to see him, then 50 irritable and
exacting, now governed by the dropping of an
eyelid, or the compression of the lips, or some
. little movement almost imperoeptible to by
ISLANDERS. hut yet most expresslyein their silence
to one who understood them. saFlorenees eyes
never flashed, nor her voice altered, but, from
the tip Of her shoulder to the motion Of her fairy
foot, her whole being was eloquent with cold dis
pleasure.
Herbert could not love her; but he watched
her Ightest moyemet, for he still loved his own
quiet and peace.
Could Mary Harper have believed that this,
man was the man who was once her hus-
band If spirits return wrath how would hers
have been appeased could it have seen his pun
islment now h..
And yet we wrong you, Mary Harper, even in
the supposition!e Yoargentle, unoffending heart
never reused to anger even here, when clegged
with earth! The mortal did not need to put on
Immortality to forgive. But who,sss unwhipped
of Justice can wrong such a spirit Is there
not retlibltion even here for the selfish soul
that asks all and gives nothing.' Was Herbert
happy If the first wife wept, the second
avenged her So