in this point of view with unmingled reverence, I never wished to behold his face. His countenance, his figure, his gestures, the very tone of his voice, were all subjects of aversion to me.

opinions, were at

My understanding, my his devotion: but my "It came

heart took a different course.

not into his secret; and to his counsels it was not united." In all that was most cordial and consolatory to the spirit it stood off from him, as wide as the poles from each other. In my wishes and cherished visions he had no part. This was a peculium that I carefully shut up in my own bosom, and of which no creature that lived was a partaker.

CHAPTER VII.

SUCH was the monotony of my life during the years in which I resided under the roof of my uncle. Few were the occasions that were calculated to awaken in me the social affections, in their purest and most fascinating tone. To all this however there was one exception, I have already said that I had a sister. This sister I had scarcely seen; and I almost forgot that she existed. One morning Hilkiah communicated to me the intelligence that she was expected on a visit; my uncle had invited her to spend a week or ten days under his roof. It cannot be imagined what pleasure

I derived from the information. The entrance of one stranger, and that stranger a visitor, under the battlements of our mansion, was an event as memorable, as a congress of half the sovereigns of Europe, and all the splendours of their reception, would be to the fashionable and the gay.

My sister was one year younger than myself. She had regular features, a transparent complexion, and a most preposses sing countenance. "Her pure and eloquent blood spoke in her cheeks." Her eyes were dark and expressive; and her smiles were bewitching. Her form was light and airy, like that of a sylph. Her motions had a naiveté and grace, that I cannot conceive to be exceeded. She made me a painter. Whenever I shut my eyes, I saw her whenever I let my thoughts loose in imagination, I pictured to myself her gestures and her air. The tone of her voice was thrilling; and there was a beauty in her articulation, that made my soul

dance within me,' and without the labour and weight of emphasis, gave to every thing she said an impression beyond the power of emphasis to convey. Ob, Henrietta, thou dearest half of my soul, how can I recollect thee, such as I now saw thee, without rapture!

There is something in the prejudice of kindred, that has an uncontrolable power over the soul. I was alone in the world; I had neither father, nor mother, nor brother; but Henrietta was father, and mother, and every thing to me in one. We had a thousand things to talk about; and it seems to me, at this distance of time, as if we had possessed a power of dividing and multiplying the thoughts we expressed, and of giving to every one a fineness and subtlety, that the grossness and earthiness of more advanced years can never reach. We delivered our ideas with frankness; we had none of the false reserve, that makes older persons warily examine the recollections

and sallies that press to the tongue, and throw away one, and mangle another; lest they should say any thing, that should subtract from the consideration they aim at, and of which afterward they might see reason to repent.

We walked together; and wherever we walked, the place seemed to invest itself in inexpressible charms. Nothing could be more dreary and desolate than the scenery in the midst of which I lived; but the presence of Henrietta gave to it the beauty of the Elysian fields; and when she was gone, yet I could not visit the well-known haunts without their reviving in me the same ravishing sensation. She talked; and my soul hung on the enchanting sounds. To the little tales of the place from whence she came and its inhabitants, I could listen for Her observations were so unlike to any thing I had ever heard before. What a contrast to Hilkiah, and my uncle, and the gloomy and formal establishment of

ever.