whom you were in love.

_Phil_.--No such thing; I was passionately in love at the time, but the
object of my admiration was a lady with black hair, dark eyes, and pale
complexion; this spirit of my vision, on the contrary, had brown hair,
blue eyes, and a bright rosy complexion, and was, as far as I can
recollect, unlike any of the amatory forms which in early youth had so
often haunted my imagination. Her figure for many days was so distinct
in my mind, as to form almost a visual image. As I gained strength, the
visits of my good angel (for so I called it) became less frequent, and
when I was restored to health they were altogether discontinued.

_Onu_.--I see nothing very strange in this--a mere reaction of the mind
after severe pain--and, to a young man of twenty-five, there are few more
pleasurable images than that of a beautiful maiden with blue eyes,
blooming cheeks, and long nut-brown hair.

_Phil_.--But all my feelings and all my conversations with this visionary
maiden were of an intellectual and refined nature.

_Onu_.--Yes, I suppose, as long as you were ill.

_Phil_.--I will not allow you to treat me with ridicule on this point
till you have heard the second part of my tale. Ten years after I had
recovered from the fever, and when I had almost lost the recollection of
the vision, it was recalled to my memory by a very blooming and graceful
maiden, fourteen or fifteen years old, that I accidentally met during my
travels in Illyria; but I cannot say that the impression made upon my
mind by this female was very strong. Now comes the extraordinary part of
the narrative. Ten years after, twenty years after my first illness, at
a time when I was exceedingly weak from a severe and dangerous malady,
which for many weeks threatened my life, and when my mind was almost in a
desponding state, being in a course of travels ordered by my medical
advisers, I again met the person who was the representative of my
visionary female, and to her kindness and care I believe I owe what
remains to me of existence. My despondency gradually disappeared, and
though my health still continued weak, life began to possess charms for
me which I had thought were for ever gone; and I could not help
identifying the living angel with the vision which appeared as my
guardian genius during the illness of my youth.

_Onu_.--I really see nothing at all in this fact, whether the first or
the second part of the narrative be considered, b