 gave his duties to the pleasures arising from her society, made her fancy his having no views beyond the enjoyment of her friendship, till the expiration of the first year of her widowhood, during which he had condemned himself to absolute silence, concerning the situation of his heart; but, having given so much time to worldly form, he was determined no longer to delay what was due to himself, after having fulfilled all, that decorum could possibly expect; he, therefore declared frankly to her, how little alteration time had made in his affection;

and intreated she would give him leave to hope, that she would listen to his addresses with more complacency than when he first made them.
Mrs. Tunstall was somewhat surprised at Mr. Ellison's constancy, and not a little puzzled in what manner to answer him; but, as he insisted on a reply, she stammered out some expressions of the honour he did her, the greatness of the advantages he thus offered her, and her high sense of the obligations she lay under, which must incline her to wish to comply with any request of his.
This sort of cold reception was ill suited to the ardor of Mr. Ellison's passion; he therefore begged that politeness, gratitude, and, above all, interest, might be out of the question; for, though amiable virtues, yet his heart was too delicate, or too capricious, to be contented with receiving them in return for his warmest affections.

Mrs. Tunstall's situation was rendered the more perplexing, by being really ignorant of the state of her own heart. She had only considered him as a most amiable and worthy friend, and knew not whether she could with pleasure consent to be united to him by a tenderer tie; however, she could safely promise all his delicacy required, not to marry him except he became the free disinterested choice of her heart. Mr. Ellison had no sooner received this assurance, than he repented his request; but his, apprehensions were groundless.
Mrs. Tunstall was not quite so indifferent as she imagined; love seldom rises to a blaze, till it is fanned with hope; and in a few other visits she declared to him that she could no longer resist any inclination of his; on the contrary, found her affection for him grow so intire, that she wished to have it made her duty to love him with a warm and undivided heart.

Every circumstance now seemed to concur to make Mr. Ellison completely happy, when, three days before that fixed on for his nuptials, he received a letter
