Madam,' returned Emmeline, 'have reason to consider the
concurrence of circumstances that brought you here as the most fortunate
for me. Yet I own to you, that the charm of such society is accompanied
with great pain, in anticipating the hour when I must again return to
that solitude I have 'till now considered as my greatest enjoyment.'

'Ah! my dear girl!' replied Mrs. Stafford, 'check in its first
appearance a propensity which I see you frequently betray, to anticipate
displeasing or unfortunate events. When you have lived a few years
longer, you will, I fear, learn, that every day has evils enough of its
own, and that it is well for us we know nothing of those which are yet
to come. I speak from experience; for I, when not older than you now
are, had a perpetual tendency to fancy future calamities, and embittered
by that means many of those hours which would otherwise have been really
happy. Yet has not my pre-sentiments, tho' most of them have been
unhappily verified, enabled me to avoid one of those thorns with which
my path has been thickly strewn.'

Emmeline hoped now to hear what hand had strewn them.

Mrs. Stafford, sighing deeply, fell into a reverie; and continuing long
silent, Emmeline could not resolve to renew a conversation so evidently
painful to her.

It was now six weeks since she had first seen Mrs. Stafford, and the
hours had passed in a series of felicity of which she had 'till then
formed no idea.

Mrs. Stafford, delighted with the lively attachment of her young friend,
was charmed to find herself capable of adorning her ingenuous and tender
mind with all that knowledge which books or the world had qualified her
to impart.

They read together every day: Emmeline, under the tuition of her
charming preceptress, had made some progress in French and Italian; and
she was amazed at her own success in drawing since she had received from
Mrs. Stafford rules of which she was before ignorant.

As the summer advanced, a few stragglers came in, and it was no longer
wonderful to see a stranger. But Mrs. Stafford and Miss Mowbray,
perfectly satisfied with each other, sought not to enlarge their
society. They sometimes held short conversations with the transient
visitants of the place, but more usually avoided those walks where it
was likely they should meet them.

Early one morning, they were returning from the bathing place together,
muffled up in their morning dresses. They had seen at a distance two
gentlemen, whom they did not