ce of additional happiness to these
affectionate mothers, whose mutual friendship gained new strength at
the sight of their children, equally the offspring of an ill-fated
attachment. They delighted in washing their infants together in the same
bath, in putting them to rest in the same cradle, and in changing the
maternal bosom at which they received nourishment. "My friend," cried
Madame de la Tour, "we shall each of us have two children, and each
of our children will have two mothers." As two buds which remain on
different trees of the same kind, after the tempest has broken all their
branches, produce more delicious fruit, if each, separated from the
maternal stem, be grafted on the neighbouring tree, so these two
infants, deprived of all their other relations, when thus exchanged
for nourishment by those who had given them birth, imbibed feelings of
affection still more tender than those of son and daughter, brother and
sister. While they were yet in their cradles, their mothers talked of
their marriage. They soothed their own cares by looking forward to the
future happiness of their children; but this contemplation often drew
forth their tears. The misfortunes of one mother had arisen from having
neglected marriage; those of the other from having submitted to its
laws. One had suffered by aiming to rise above her condition, the other
by descending from her rank. But they found consolation in reflecting
that their more fortunate children, far from the cruel prejudices of
Europe, would enjoy at once the pleasures of love and the blessings of
equality.

Rarely, indeed, has such an attachment been seen as that which the
two children already testified for each other. If Paul complained of
anything, his mother pointed to Virginia: at her sight he smiled, and
was appeased. If any accident befel Virginia, the cries of Paul gave
notice of the disaster; but the dear little creature would suppress
her complaints if she found that he was unhappy. When I came hither,
I usually found them quite naked, as is the custom of the country,
tottering in their walk, and holding each other by the hands and under
the arms, as we see represented in the constellation of the Twins. At
night these infants often refused to be separated, and were found lying
in the same cradle, their cheeks, their bosoms pressed close together,
their hands thrown round each other's neck, and sleeping, locked in one
another's arms.

When they first began to sp