Fleetwood said
to me, 'Jennie, our souls were mated in heaven, if any ever were,
and I claim you as the fulfillment of what must have been a Divine
purpose.' I found that my heart echoed every word he said.
"Then he appeared troubled and said that I must give him time to
untangle a snarl into which he had drifted rather than involved
himself. His family were wealthy and ambitious, and they had
always spoken of his marriage with a cousin who was an heiress,
as a settled thing. He had never bound himself by word or act,
and often laughingly told his parents that they could not arrange
these matters on strictly business principles, as did aristocrats
abroad--that the young lady herself might have something to say, if
he had not. But he was wrapt up in his studies--he was preparing
for a literary life--and events drifted on until he found that every
one of his house hold had set their hearts on this alliance. All
that he could say against it was that he was indifferent. The
lady was pretty and tried to make herself agreeable to him; while
he felt that they had little in common, and was also led to believe
that she would good-naturedly leave him to his own pursuits, and
so he entered no protest to the family schemes, but drifted.
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