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 also 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 would be the event: in the midst of my unlooked-for
happiness, I scarcely recollected, or, recollecting, was disposed to
yield but a small degree of credit to, the menaces of Mr. Falkland.

One day, that I was sitting alone with the accomplished Laura, she
repeated his all-dreadful name. I started with astonishment, amazed
that a woman like this, who knew nobody, who lived as it were alone in a
corner of the universe, who had never in a single instance entered into
any fashionable circle, this admirable and fascinating hermit, should,
by some unaccountable accident, have become acquainted with this fatal
and tremendous name. Astonishment however was not my only sensation. I
became pale with terror; I rose from my seat; I attemp