ABSTRACT
In this manner the days of these lovers, for such they were, glided on in an Elysian a tranquillity, till a mere accident had the effect of producing a striking change in their situation. The mother of William had been absent for several weeks, on a visit to a friend who dwelt at a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. William, as I have already said, was the stay, the comforter and assistant of her who bore him, and had been recalled to her side by the decease of his father. He amply supplied to her the place of the protector she had lost. He had always been remarked for his duty as a child; and now, that his mother had no other / domestic friend, he had greatly increased in his assiduity and affection towards her. They were all the world to each other, with no considerable exception, unless the embryo and unexplained passion he entertained for 47Margaret. The time was come when he expected his mother to return; the day of her arrival was fixed; and William was to proceed some miles upon the road, to meet her and escort her home. The hour of meeting drew nigh; and the youth had already gone to the stable, and was about to harness his horse to the simple vehicle, in which he was accustomed to accompany his mother in her little recreations, when a messenger arrived with a letter, informing him that an unexpected circumstance had occurred, which would oblige her to defer her return from the Wednesday to the Saturday following.
