wing
accident.

One night when he was upon guard, a dreadful fire broke out near Mr.
Franklin's house, which, in a few hours, reduced that and several others
to ashes; fortunately no lives were lost, and, by the assiduity of the
soldiers, much valuable property was saved from the flames. In the midst
of the confusion an old gentleman came up to Montraville, and, putting
a small box into his hands, cried--"Keep it, my good Sir, till I come
to you again;" and then rushing again into the thickest of the
crowd, Montraville saw him no more. He waited till the fire was quite
extinguished and the mob dispersed; but in vain: the old gentleman did
not appear to claim his property; and Montraville, fearing to make any
enquiry, lest he should meet with impostors who might lay claim, without
any legal right, to the box, carried it to his lodgings, and locked it
up: he naturally imagined, that the person who committed it to his care
knew him, and would, in a day or two, reclaim it; but several weeks
passed on, and no enquiry being made, he began to be uneasy, and
resolved to examine the contents of the box, and if they were, as he
supposed, valuable, to spare no pains to discover, and restore them
to the owner. Upon opening it, he found it contained jewels to a large
amount, about two hundred pounds in money, and a miniature picture set
for a bracelet. On examining the picture, he thought he had somewhere
seen features very like it, but could not recollect where. A few
days after, being at a public assembly, he saw Miss Franklin, and the
likeness was too evident to be mistaken: he enquired among his brother
officers if any of them knew her, and found one who was upon terms of
intimacy in the family: "then introduce me to her immediately," said
he, "for I am certain I can inform her of something which will give her
peculiar pleasure."

He was immediately introduced, found she was the owner of the jewels,
and was invited to breakfast the next morning in order to their
restoration. This whole evening Montraville was honoured with Julia's
hand; the lively sallies of her wit, the elegance of her manner,
powerfully charmed him: he forgot Charlotte, and indulged himself in
saying every thing that was polite and tender to Julia. But on retiring,
recollection returned. "What am I about?" said he: "though I cannot
marry Charlotte, I cannot be villain enough to forsake her, nor must
I dare to trifle with the heart of Julia Franklin. I will r