he eyed the other man warily ; miss matthews was a beautiful and charming young woman , and he had been pleased to assist hawthorne in freeing her of the devil who had been so determined to ruin her life , but other than that he had no personal interest in her , and if hawthorne thought otherwise- 'so much so , ' hawthorne continued , 'that she will hear of nothing less than that you stand as one of the witnesses at our wedding . '