ad suffered from ours, that could alone,
he thought, be made up by the marriage of the only children of the two
branches. So we were destined for each other almost from our cradles;
and I was content it should be so, for Jules's handsome face and
decided preference for me were agreeable to me, although I felt no
great affection for him. We were separated: Jules traveled in France,
England, and America, and made money as a merchant, which profession
he had taken up suddenly. My father, who had a place under government,
left his country in consequence of political troubles, and came into
this part of the world where some distant relations of my mother's
lived. He liked the neighborhood; he bought land; we lived very
happily; I was quite contented in Jules's absence; I had no yearning
of the heart toward him, yet I thought kindly of him, and troubled
myself little about my future. Then--then I learned to know your
friend. Oh, then! I felt, when I looked upon him, when I listened to
him, when we conversed together, I felt, I acknowledged that there
might be happiness on earth, of which I had hitherto never dreamed.
Then I loved for the first time, ardently, passionately, and was
beloved in return. Acquainted with the family engagements, he did not
dare openly to proclaim his love, and I knew I ought not to foster
the feeling; but, alas! how seldom does passion listen to the voice
of reason and of duty. Your friend and I met in secret; in secret we
plighted our troth, and exchanged those rings, and hoped and believed
that by showing a bold front to our destiny we should subdue it to our
will. The commencement was sinful, it has met with a dire retribution,
Jules's letters announced his speedy return. He had sold everything
in his own country, had given up all his mercantile affairs, through
which he had greatly increased an already considerable fortune, and
now he was about to join us, or rather me, without whom he could not
live. This appeared to me like the demand for payment of a heavy debt.
This debt I owed to Jules, who loved me with all his heart, who was
in possession of my father's promised word and mine also. Yet I could
not give up your friend. In a state of distraction I told him all; we
meditated flight. Yes, I was so far guilty, and I make the confession
in hopes that some portion of my errors may be expiated by repentance.
My father, who had long been in a declining state, suddenly grew
worse, and this delayed a