ed, with painful
eagerness, the first sound of the approaching vehicle. They snatched a
look at it as soon as it appeared in sight. Belding was without a
companion.

This confirmation of her fears overwhelmed the unhappy Susan. She sunk
into a fit, from which, for a long time, her recovery was hopeless. This
was succeeded by paroxysms of a furious insanity, in which she
attempted to snatch any pointed implement which lay within her reach,
with a view to destroy herself. These being carefully removed, or
forcibly wrested from her, she resigned herself to sobs and
exclamations.

Having interrogated Belding, he informed us that he occupied his usual
post in the market-place; that heretofore Wallace had duly sought him
out, and exchanged letters; but that, on this morning, the young man had
not made his appearance, though Belding had been induced, by his wish to
see him, to prolong his stay in the city much beyond the usual period.

That some other cause than sickness had occasioned this omission was
barely possible. There was scarcely room for the most sanguine temper to
indulge a hope. Wallace was without kindred, and probably without
friends, in the city. The merchant in whose service he had placed
himself was connected with him by no considerations but that of
interest. What then must be his situation when seized with a malady
which all believed to be contagious, and the fear of which was able to
dissolve the strongest ties that bind human beings together?

I was personally a stranger to this youth. I had seen his letters, and
they bespoke, not indeed any great refinement or elevation of
intelligence, but a frank and generous spirit, to which I could not
refuse my esteem; but his chief claim to my affection consisted in his
consanguinity to Mr. Hadwin, and his place in the affections of Susan.
His welfare was essential to the happiness of those whose happiness had
become essential to mine. I witnessed the outrages of despair in the
daughter, and the symptoms of a deep but less violent grief in the
sister and parent. Was it not possible for me to alleviate their pangs?
Could not the fate of Wallace be ascertained?

This disease assailed men with different degrees of malignity. In its
worst form perhaps it was incurable; but, in some of its modes, it was
doubtless conquerable by the skill of physicians and the fidelity of
nurses. In its least formidable symptoms, negligence and solitude would
render it fatal.

Wal