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  WIVES AND WIDOWS;

  OR,

  THE BROKEN LIFE.

  BY

  MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS.

AUTHOR OF "RUBY GRAY'S STRATEGY," "FASHION AND FAMINE," "THE CURSE OF
GOLD," "THE REJECTED WIFE," "THE OLD HOMESTEAD," "THE WIFE'S SECRET,"
"MABEL'S MISTAKE," "THE GOLD BRICK," "SILENT STRUGGLES," "MARY DERWENT,"
"DOUBLY FALSE," "THE HEIRESS," "THE SOLDIER'S ORPHANS," ETC., ETC.


  When falsehood genders in a human soul,
    Blossoms may hide the reptile in his creeping,
  But every pulse will stir at his control,
    Or feel the burden of his poisonous sleeping,
  Until the tight'ning circle of his coils
  Binds down the heart, which God alone assoils.

  In honest hearts the gentle truth reposes;
    As nightingales, with rapturous music filled,
  Nestle down, softly, in the clust'ring roses,
    While the sweet night and moon