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"I was willing to flatter myself, that the hand, in which these lines were traced, resembled that of Julia Bruce. But the letters were so careless, and half-formed, that even my warm wishes could not free me from doubt on this subject.

I did not, however, lose longer time in the deliberation; but mounted my horse, and pursued the line, which I understood these travellers had taken. On the second day, I missed them, by a perverse accident, at the separation of two great roads. On the third I reached a celebrated watering-place; and overcome with fatigue, and a slight return of my fever, was persuaded to rest there for some days.

"The next evening I was lounging, as the dusk came on, in one of the public walks, when, as some ladies in deep veils passed me, I thought I heard the tones of a voice like that of Julia Bruce. I started; and half-turned back; but the ladies hurried on; and my heart misgiving me, I did not pursue them. They returned; and, as they came near me, I again imagined the voice was Julia's. 'Miss Bruce!' I halfuttered, trusting that, if I was right, she would notice my exclamation. The figure started; and in a sort of hurry and surprise, I heard her in a suppressed voice exclaim, 'Good God! who is that?' I had courage to repeat the words, 'Miss Bruce! I cannot be mistaken! Have you forgot me?' She instantly held out her trembling hand; and said, 'O no, no! But I am so surprised to see you! Have you not been very ill? And how came you here?' I dared

not say 'In search of you! I only replied, 'I am glad that I am here!'

"Mrs. Bruce was not with her daughter, who was leaning on the arm of a young lady, a stranger to me. I accompanied them to the end of the walk, during which Julia seemed confused, and agitated. She enquired again about my health, and told me she had heard that I had been very ill; but when I asked her, whence she had learned it, she evaded my question. On my taking leave, I enquired where they lodged, and said I should call on her mother the next morning.

"I passed a night of joy so chastised by anxiety, that it had once more nearly overset my weak health and spirits. Never did I before so long for the dawn of day. The morning at length came; and, after an hurried breakfast, I sallied forth. Mrs. Bruce received me coldly; yet not with incivility. She seemed more unhappy than angry; and occasionally expressed herself in a tone of kindness, which she no sooner perceived, than she restrained. She appeared, like her daughter, aware of late illness; and congratulated me with seeming sincerity on my recovery.

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"Julia looked still more beautiful than when I parted from her in the winter in Scotland. But a cast of thought and melancholy had fixed itself in her countenance, which if it gave an added grace to it, still for her sake filled me with pain.

"The important interval of absence, since I left Julia in Scotland, had worked in my mind a

state of feelings of a sort so totally different from those with which I was impressed when I parted from her, that my manner and voice, I doubt not, appeared like those of a new being. It had formerly something more like common gallantry: it was now earnest, embarrassed, fearful, and respectful even to awe. Recollecting that I was far past the excuses of youth, I was not without crossing reflections of shame at my own weakness in the idolatry which I now felt for a human creature, who was of an age, in which the world would consider such a disparity. But reasoning had little controul over a passion so ardent, as mine had become. Julia's manner did not betray dislike to me: she seemed as if she was rather under the influence of mysterious cares and melancholy, than disapprobation, or indifference. If a tone of more than ordinary softness now and then escaped her lips, I perceived in the countenance of her mother an expression, not of anger, but of agony: and her eyes were instantly suffused with tears. Julia always caught the infection, and continued long afterwards in a deep silence.

"I passed two months in this way, agitated with a mixture of delight and pain, on which I now look back, as on a wild and unearthly dream. Autumn was again arrived; the fresh breezes of the sea blew upon us in our morning walks; and the serene sun, whose tints at this season are so beautifully and characteristically described by Thomson, and which would have touched the calmest heart with softness, still en

*ཏྠིས****མ•�་་་་་བབ་པ་་་

flamed the dangerous enthusiasm of my mind. Julia's beautiful person and angelic intellect seemed every day to grow more spiritualized: but her health rapidly declined; and all the symptoms of a fatal consumption became every day more certain. Sometimes Mrs. Bruce, half-hesitating as if doubtful in her own opinion, seemed confusedly to hint at the propriety of my quitting the place; and then again to withdraw her hint, as if she would not have me obey it. There were moments when she appeared inclined to give me her confidence; and then she checked herself, as if horror-struck. I sometimes imagined that neither Julia was indifferent to me; nor her mother unwilling to impart the affecting secret: but at other times I was given to understand, that there was an irrevocable bar to such a supposition; and that the very thought would affect the beloved Julia with agony even to death.

"I received so many proofs of friendship and anxious regard to my feelings and happiness from Julia, (though at any expression of love on my part she shrunk as at a great and mysterious crime,) that the peculiar line of conduct she had adopted, filled me with wretchedness and self abasement, without, alas! diminishing my attachment. I could not daily behold a person so indescribably amiable and attractive without the most ardent passion. Her soft eyes, the very tones of her voice, or touch of her hand, filled me with delirium. In the languor of the most threatening decay, under the painful awe of an indissoluble

reserve, the sensibility and brightness of her mind was so apparent, her eloquence was so charming, and the purity of her lively affections so heavenly, that, even if it had been in my power to withdraw myself from those scenes of woeful enchantment, I would willingly have purchased them at the price of still greater misery than I endured.

"She continually hinted to me, that she was well aware of the rapidity with which she was hastening to her resting-place. The grave, she said, had no terrors for her. Yet she was not insensible to the charms of life. She had the keenest enjoyment of its innocent pleasures; and to the scenery of Nature her senses were so alive, that on that account alone she felt the most tender gratitude for her existence. She thought with Gray, that some tints of woe but made the hues of bliss glow the more brightly. But she hinted at an overwhelming sorrow, which was allotted to some; and which seemed to be above the endurance of human strength. Still,' she added, 'there are feelings and affections, of which, though they may be fatal to my continuance in this world, I shall never repent, while I keep them under the controul of my duty; because so far they may be innocent, here, and may survive without impediment, in an higher and better state of existence! At expressions like these I was too much overcome with a thousand conflicting sensations to make any reply.

"Julia still continued her morning walks with me; though her strength alarmingly failed. One

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