the house called the man Mr
Hintman enquired for, who immediately came downstairs, wiping tears from
his eyes; the continuance of which he could hardly restrain. Mr Hintman
asking the reason of those appearances of sorrow, the good-natured old
man told him, his visit had called him from a scene which had shocked
him excessively. 'The first day I came here' said he, 'I was induced by
the frequent groans which issued from the next chamber, to enquire who
lodged there; I learnt, it was a gentlewoman, who arrived the day
before, and was immediately taken so ill that they apprehended her life
in danger; and, about two hours ago, the maid of the house ran into my
room, begging me to come to her assistance, for the gentlewoman was in
such strong fits, she was not able to hold her. I obeyed the summons,
and found the poor woman in fits indeed; but what appeared to me the
last agonies of a life which, near exhausted, lavishes away its small
remains in strong convulsions.

'By her bedside stood the most beautiful child I ever beheld, in
appearance about ten years of age, crying as if its little heart would
break; not with the rage of an infant, but with the settled grief of a
person mature both in years and affliction. I asked her if the poor
dying woman was her mother; she told me, no--she was only her aunt; but
to her the same as a mother; and she did not know any one else that
would take care of her.

'After a time the poor woman's convulsions left her; she just recovered
sense enough to embrace the lovely girl, and cried out, Oh! my dear
child, what will become of you! a friendless, helpless infant; and
seeing me at her bedside, she lifted up her hands in a suppliant
posture; and with eyes that petitioned in stronger terms than words
could express, Oh! Sir, said she, though you are a stranger to me, yet I
see you are not so to humanity; take pity on this forlorn child; her
amiable disposition will repay you in this world, and the great Father
of us all will reward you in the next, for your compassion on a wretched
friendless girl! But why do I call her friendless? Her innocence has the
best of friends in heaven; the Almighty is a parent she is not left to
seek for; he is never absent;--Oh! blessed Lord! cried she, with a
degree of ecstasy and confidence which most sensibly affected us all, to
thy care I resign her; thy tender mercies are over all thy works, and
thou, who carest for the smallest part of thy creation, will no