being, except in the person of
her father. She delighted to converse with me upon subjects of literature and
taste, and she eagerly invited my assistance in the education of her children.
The son, though young, had been so happily improved and instructed by his
mother, that I found in him nearly all the most essential qualities we require
in a friend. Engagement and inclination equally led me to pass a considerable
part of every day in this agreeable society. Laura treated me as if I had been
one of the family, and I sometimes flattered myself that I might one day become
such in reality. What an enviable resting-place for me, who had known nothing
but calamity, and had scarcely dared to look for sympathy and kindness in the
countenance of a human being!
    The sentiments of friendship which early disclosed themselves between me and
the members of this amiable family, daily became stronger. At every interview,
the confidence reposed in me by the mother, increased. While our familiarity
gained in duration, it equally gained in that subtlety of communication, by
which it seemed to shoot forth its roots in every direction. There are a
thousand little evanescent touches in the development of a growing friendship,
that are neither thought of, nor would be understood, between common
acquaintances. I honoured and esteemed the respectable Laura like a mother; for,
though the difference of our ages was by no means sufficient to authorise the
sentiment, it was irresistibly suggested to me, by the fact of her always being
presented to my observation under the maternal character. Her son was a lad of
great understanding, generosity, and feeling, and of no contemptible
acquirements; while his tender years, and the uncommon excellence of his mother,
subtracted something from the independence of his judgment, and impressed him
with a sort of religious deference for her will. In the eldest daughter I beheld
the image of Laura; for that I felt attached to her for the present; and I
sometimes conceived it probable, that hereafter I might learn to love her for
her own sake. - Alas, it was thus that I amused myself with the visions of
distant years, while I stood in reality on the brink of the precipice!
    It will perhaps be thought strange, that I never once communicated the
particulars of my story to this amiable matron, or to my young friend, for such
I may almost venture to call him, her son. But in truth I abhorred the memory of
this story; I placed all my hopes of happiness in the prospect of its being
consigned to oblivion. I fondly flattered myself that such