ABSTRACT
I was glad to find a pause in the story of affliction. The truth, which marked every word she uttered, rendered her an object of the tenderest interest; and convinced me, that had she been less lovely, and more kindly treated by the world, she would have proved an ornament to society. Though robbed of the fragile charm of chastity, she still possessed a mind, enlightened by sorrowful experience, and graced with the most transcendent virtues. I rose and walked slowly round her apartment, wishing to allow her agitated spirits an interval, which might give them new powers to repel the tortures of reflection. On the table lay a letter, with the seal broken: I thought I knew the hand-writing on the superscription, and looked earnestly at it for some moments, puzzled by conjecture, and fascinated by curiosity. My companion observed the fixed attention of my countenance, and the object which occasioned it. The attendant imp being ordered to vanish, the conversation was resumed immediately on her departure.
