The old woman's tale

I am now an old woman, and I hope that my friends would say of me, that I am a steady, quiet sort of person, who is content to divide her time between her needlework, her household duties, her attendance on divine service, and a few visits to her neighbours.

But the time was when I was a wild, unruly girl; and if not what is called wicked, it was altogether through the restraining grace of God, by which I was kept back from irrecoverably disgraceful actions; and by which my reputation, of which I took no care myself, was preserved for me until I was led to put some value upon it. But as I much fear, If I began my little volume with long and serious discussions, that my young readers would throw it down before they had read many pages, I must omit further reflections, and proceed without loss of time to such passages of my history as seem most interesting to the public.

My father was a military officer, who, having seen much active service, retired, when about fifty years of age, to a little patrimony which he possessed on the borders of Wales, in one of the fairest though wildest regions of our lovely island.

Whoever may have chanced to see a little white house on the declivity of a hill, embosomed in tufted trees where birds sing, leaves rustle, and waters murmur, may fancy such to have been my father's residence, for it was indeed a mere cottage until two large and pleasant rooms were added to it, when he first proposed to make it his abode. I was so unfortunate as to lose my mother when I was about ten years of age; but I felt this loss the less from having several sisters, some considerably older than myself, as well as some younger, and several brothers. Eldest sisters are sometimes a little tyrannical, but mine was the gentlest of gentle creatures, and as full of care for us all as if she had been our mother. She was as much as ten years older than myself, and between her and my youngest brother~ were as many as eight brothers and sisters of different ages. We were considered a fine family, and to this day I recollect all their figures, among which were some decidedly lovely faces, and not one that was not at least comely and pleasing.

Our dear father took much pains with our education, and if I was not all that a tender parent might wish, it was not his fault. His other children indeed gave him perfect satisfaction--they were good children; but I troubled him and my brothers and sisters very much, and all from one strange inclination which I had, and which I believe is common to wayward young people. This was the propensity which I always shewed for keeping myself, in some degree, apart from my own family, in order that I might cultivate the friendship of other people; not considering, that brothers and sisters are friends and companions appointed by the Almighty; and that, in most cases, they are fast friends, who, however selfish they may seem in some particular instances, cannot choose but to be interested in each other's welfare, inasmuch as each must be a partaker in the disgrace which happens to either. Hence, the advice of a brother or of a sister may always be welcomed as being more pure and disinterested than that of strangers; and, if to the natural union of interests is added the sweet and habitual interchange of elegant courtesies, how infinitely dear must that bond become which unites them; and how delightfully, in such cases, Is the intention of a tender Providence fulfilled! But, with what carelessness or impatience do young people often rend asunder those natural ties which ought to bind them together as the sons and daughters of one common parent I and how often do we see the bitterest enmities among those who have reposed in the same cradle, and have been fostered on the same bosom.

But I forget that I am writing for young people: why then do I allow myself to admit so many abstract sentiments into my little volume? Do not be frightened, my gentle reader. We will now leave these grave reflections, and you shall hear my story.

As I before said, the great error into which I fell, was the love that I had for forming intimacies with strangers. With these, I suppose that I felt myself more easy than with my brothers and sisters; because these last were accustomed to tell me of my faults, whereas the companions whom I chose for myself found it more convenient and agreeable to soothe and flatter me, and to pass over what I happened to do amiss.

My first particular friend was our housemaid. I was about eight years old when this intimacy began. I used to slip away from my sisters, and get to Susan whenever I could; and I had many opportunities, for my eldest sister being then young and inexperienced, was not so watchful as an older person might have been.

It was happy for me that Susan was not a profligate girl; and that I did not derive so much evil from her society as I might otherwise have done: but, nevertheless, she gave me many strange notions. She was from the interior of Wales, and was very superstitious, so that she filled my mind with all sorts of frightful fancies about witches, and spirits, and candles burning about graves and walking in procession, and omens, and prodigies, and lights seen in the woods on moonless nights. And though I now know the absurdity of these things, yet to this day I cannot quits recover from the gloomy impressions which they made upon my mind. When I was about ten years old my friend was sent away, for admitting a gipsy into the house to tell her fortune, and for shutting her up in the pantry, where she pocketed a silver tankard. I was then like one utterly destitute of comfort, and cried, and fretted, and made myself so disagreeable, that those of my sisters who were about my own age were quite offended; and, as I took no pains to conciliate them, the departure of Susan did not bring me much nearer to my real friends.

But here am I proceeding rapidly with my story, and have not yet told you my name. I could not think of troubling you with the names of all my brothers and sisters; for it will be sufficient for you to know that my name is Isabella, and that those of my eldest brother and sister were Robert and Sarah; while my father was known through all the parish by the title of the Captain, there being no other Captain within it precincts.

After Susan had left us, my heart remained disengaged for a short time, and I do not recollect to have entertained any other intimate friendship, until a sister of my father, who resided in Bath, came to visit us, and stayed during the three summer months, when I was in my twelfth year. My aunt brought with her a maid-servant, whose business it was to dress her hair, and assist her in putting on her clothes; and I recollect that I was very much struck with the first appearance of Mrs. Jenny, when she stepped out of the carriage after my aunt. I thought I could not enough admire a yellow stormant gown with green trimmings and flounces that she wore, which, it afterwards appeared, had descended to her from her lady, and which, with a blue satin bonnet, seemed in my eyes to excel all that I had ever seen of the superb and the magnificent. It was sometime, however, before I could venture to approach so great a lady: but one morning chancing to see her at work in my aunt's apartment surrounded with strips of gauze-riband and tiffany, out of which she was preparing a cap for her mistress, I ventured into the room, and being received very affably, we from that time became sworn friends. She soon contrived to get out of me as much of the history of the family as it was in my power to give her: and if I told her no secrets, it was because I knew none, and not on account of any discretion of my own, for I allowed her to make what remarks she chose upon my brothers and sisters, and even upon my father and aunt; and, after a short time, she gained such power over my mind, that I was more afraid of offending her than even of offending my heavenly Father. The consequences of this intimacy were more mischievous than those of the last. From Mrs. Jenny I learned all the gossip of the South Parade, where my aunt lodged in Bath; and, when I heard of little girls like myself dressed in satins and brocades, and wearing lace aprons and gauze caps with artificial flowers, and going to plays and balls, and being admired at the dancing-school, and, what was still worse, at church, I became quite discontented, and thought myself very unhappy. I began to despise my white muslin bonnet and tippet, and my Sunday frock sprinkled over with strawberries half hid in their leaves, which I once thought so pretty, and I no longer took any delight in the simple pleasures still so sweet to my brothers and sisters. A game at hide-and-seek in the woods, a feast of cakes and fruit in a natural bower, a dance under a tree, or a story told by my father or my eldest sister in the dusk of the evening, when we were all gathered round the glimmering light of a few embers;--were things for which I had lost all relish long before Mrs. Jenny returned with her mistress to her gay home at Bath.

But the dearest friends cannot always be together. The carriage was at length ordered to carry away my intimate acquaintance, and when I had watched it as far as my eye could follow it, I went into my own room, where I sat grieving, or rather sulking, until my father was under the necessity of rousing me by a lecture on my folly, added to which was a command that I should come and join my sisters, and pursue my usual employments.

My next friend was, at first sight, rather a more valuable one than any I had chosen before. She was a second cousin, who, having lost her mother, had been brought up in her father's house under an old single great aunt, whom she had been in the habit of deceiving in many ways, the old lady being not only half blind, but nearly deaf, and what was worse, so wholly addicted to card-playing that she could not get through a single evening without her pool at quadrille. Miss Bessy, my cousin, was, in consequence, by no means the person who was worthy to enjoy that place in my affections which justly belonged to my eldest sister, although she was more than a year older than my dear Sarah. Her father was an apothecary in a small country town, who, being often from home, knew little of the ways of his child; and, as her education had been entirely neglected, when she came to visit us, she could scarcely write a note, stammered at long words when reading, and was skilled in no other arts than such as tended to enable her to dress better with her small allowance than she might otherwise have done.

But although so entirely ignorant of all intellectual, not to speak of spiritual subjects, the mind of Miss Bessy was abundantly stored with the histories of many families, private as well as public. What a number of tales could she tell of family quarrels, runaway matches, undutiful sons, tyrannical fathers, silly mothers, and dishonest servants, and of other matters of the same description! and how clever she was in vamping old bonnets, stiffening old gauze, and contriving new trimmings! and, in fact, she entitled herself to my whole heart by trimming my white muslin bonnet with some pink gimp, found in an old store-chest which had belonged to my grandmother. From that auspicious morning Miss Bessy and I were inseparable, and she helped forward my education from the point in which Mrs. Jenny had left it; for, whereas Mrs. Jenny had only filled my mind and excited my ambition with the histories of pretty little misses who wore finer clothes and went to finer places than I did, Miss Bessy elevated my desires into a higher region, and made it very evident to my foolish young mind, that I was the most unfortunate of living creatures in being obliged to live in the country and remain unseen, assuring me that there was no happiness on earth equal to that of being the belle of a country town.

These false and vicious principles, by continual repetition, sank deep into my heart, while the conversation of my new friend had no such effect upon my sisters: and for this reason, because they continually held together, and gave my eldest sister the opportunity of discussing and counteracting any improper sentiment Which fell from the lips of their visitor.

At length Miss Bessy took her departure, and left me inconsolable.

It was on the departure of this my third intimate, that my father, who had observed my weakness, reasoned with me most seriously on the ill effects which might be expected from the strange inclination which I always displayed for the society of strangers.

"I do not love an illiberal mind," said my father. "I do not like a person who has not charitable feelings for strangers, and who is cold and insolent to inferiors. The influence of charity should be like the beams of the sun, which extend themselves to all creatures within their reach, though more intensely powerful in immediate proximity. But," added my excellent parent, "the course of our affections may always be considered as perverted when they depart from that regular line appointed by Providence. Those whom the Almighty has given us as connections according to consanguinity, have the first right to our regard, and if some very serious cause do not exist for a departure from this natural duty, he that prefers another to his father, mother, wife or child, departs from his obedience to the Almighty. No such unfortunate reason exists in our family. Your sisters, Isabella, are at least equally worthy of your esteem with any of those persons whom you have chosen for intimates. I might venture to say that they are much more so, but even were they less deserving, I could not excuse you for forsaking them and preferring others, unless I had seen you attempt and attempt in vain to secure their affections and accommodate yourself to their tastes."

"But, papa," I replied, "they are so cross to me!"

"On what account?" asked my father.

"Oh, papa, it was only yesterday when my younger sisters were working in their garden, that I went up to them, and stood by them, and they bade me go to cousin Bessy, for they did not want me."

"And why did they not want you?" enquired my father.

I rather hesitated to answer this question; but, after a minute, I replied, "Because they said I should repeat to cousin Bessy everything that passed between them."

"Then it seems," replied my father, "that you have lost their confidence, and, in consequence, their friendship. The foundation of friendship is trust or confidence. We may pity, and perhaps even love a person in whom we have no confidence, but we cannot establish a friendship with such an individual. Hence, the formation of a friendship with a stranger, whose fidelity we have not~ proved, is like that of a house upon a sandy foundation, which may stand for a while, but is liable to be overthrown by the first gust of wind. Your first object, now, Isabella, is to try to recover the confidence of your sisters, trusting that friendship will follow in its natural course; and be warned by me, that you will assuredly never regain that confidence while you are observed to bestow your friendship, thus lavishly, on every stranger that happens to fall in your way." My father said much more to me on this subject; but I am sorry to say that this good parent so entirely failed of bringing me to conviction, that, within a few months from the departure of my cousin Bessy, I engaged myself in another intimacy, the consequences of which were far more important than those of my former ones.

I have always remarked that young instructors and managers of families, however skilful, dexterous, and well principled, they may otherwise be, are generally deficient in one point, and that point is watchfulness. One who has been long in the habit of command, and who has given his mind to the most difficult of all arts--the art of government--is quick in discovering the first deviations from propriety in those under his rule, and skilful in preventing and averting those beginnings of evil, which by neglect would soon run on to serious mischief.

My father was often much engaged in his little farm and garden, and my mother was no more. All these things were against me: but they would not have been against me had I held together with the rest of the family. This, however, I never had been accustomed to do. I had been so spoiled by the flattery of my intimates that I could not bear the plain dealings of my real friends; and in consequence often took offence, and found some pretence for getting away, and being in any place but where my sisters were.

In order to have an excuse for following my own devices, I begged my father to allow me to keep some rabbits: and my dear parent very kindly caused a little hutch to be prepared for me at the very bottom of the yard, adding, with a smile, "I know, Isabella, you cannot exist without some intimate friends, and perhaps you may find in the friendship of your rabbits as much delight and less danger than in that of cousin Bessy, or Mrs. Jenny."

My hutch was completed, my rabbits bought, and I attended them carefully through the winter; always pleading to my sister, when she missed me, that I had been feeding my rabbits: and thus the winter passed away, and the spring brought with it its sunny days, its perfumed flowers, its variegated buds, and its harmonious notes; but the progress of time also produced a series of new temptations for me. My father's house, as I before said, was situated on the declivity of a hill--the offices lying behind the house, along the slope of the eminence. Beyond my father's yard, which was encompassed with a rough railing and a filbert hedge, was a farm-house, which lay, with all its appurtenances, in a sort of hollow of the hill; so that it was not to be seen until a person was entirely come up to it. It was also much shaded with trees, and the lower part of the fence of our yard protected one aide of the square and stiff, yet fruitful garden of the farm.

This farm-house had been occupied for years past by a worthy old couple, who sat in an evening on a corner of their kitchen-chimney, and took their meals at the head of the long oaken dresser, in company with their dairy-maid and their labourers.

It had been the custom of our family to exchange visits with these our good neighbours once a year, and during the intervals of these visits, we had always found the farmer and his wife ready to perform for the Captain and his family any act of kindness which lay within their power.

This worthy couple had only one daughter, who had married a person residing in London, and was the mother of several children older than myself. We had seen her several times when she came to visit her mother, on which occasions she had made a great noise in the neighbourhood by the smartness of her dress. The London lady had not, however, appeared for several years, when one Sunday, at church, Mr. and Mrs. Appleby, which were the names of the worthy old farmer and his wife, made their entrance into the village church, accompanied by a smart granddaughter of sixteen years of age, who was precisely one year older than I then was.

I could scarcely command myself sufficiently to seem to attend to the service, so entirely was I taken up with Miss Kitty's dress, every item of which I could now describe, though so many years are past since that period; and if my reader will not be offended she shall be favoured with a picture of it in as bright colours as my words can supply.

The fashion in dress at that time, which was about forty years since, was perhaps in worse taste than it ever was before, or has been since. It was loose and flaunting without ease, and gaudy without magnificence and splendour.

Miss Kitty was, as it happened, the first person who had been fortunate enough to display these new modes in our part of the world, and undoubtedly she made a most extraordinary figure, seated in her grandfather's dusty pew, having the old lady her grandmother on one side of her, with her flat black silk hat and mob cap, and the old gentleman on the other, in a kind of grey homespun suit, and a tight white stock buckled round his neck. But to return to Miss Kitty's dress. In the first place, she wore on her head what was then called a balloon hat, covered with bright pink satin. A balloon hat was a sort of machine constructed of wire and silk, in a regular circle of such amplitude as to render the entrance of the wearer through a common-sized door a matter of some address. The crown of the headdress was constructed of loose bag of silk made to bulge out like a melon, and the whole was so prepared as to catch every gale of wind, and erect itself from the face when caught even by the softest zephyr: and hence, no doubt, its name of balloon. Attached to the elegant headdress displayed on this occasion by Miss Kitty, was a plume of feathers on one side, and a bunch of flowers on the other; and to fill up the interval between her face and the edge of her hat, was an immense profusion of hair, furiously frizzed and arranged in stiff curls. On her neck Miss Kitty wore a square handkerchief of tiffany, made to stand out under the chin by a machine of wire disposed beneath the tiffany; a machine which I had the honour of handling and even of trying on some time afterwards; while an immensely wide and full frill or furbelow of yellow gauze, finished the bust. Miss Kitty's gown was of Indian chintz, trimmed with gauze, and so arranged, that she appeared, like a wasp, pinched round the waist, while (in revenge as one might say) her figure below the waist was made to look as wide and ample as paddings and flounces of every description could conveniently make it.

Never had I beheld anything which so entirely overcame me as this figure of Miss Kitty's when it first presented itself to my admiring and wondering eyes; and when she nodded to me across the church, on the strength of having seen me about six years past, I dropped a courtsey as low and as humble as if I had been paying honours to Her Majesty herself.

A few exclamations of surprise were all that passed in our family respecting Miss Kitty when we returned home, excepting that my youngest brother said that he should like to have her fine hat to make a kite of, and her flounces to tie to its tail. This indifference I much wondered at, for I thought that we should have talked of nothing else but this wonderful appearance for a week to come; but although I heard little said, and said little myself, of our humble neighbour's fine grand-daughter, yet I thought of nothing but the balloon hat all the rest of the day, and no doubt dreamed of it during the night.

Several days passed after this without my hearing or seeing anything of Miss Kitty, when one morning, as I was feeding my rabbits at the bottom of the yard, I heard a voice close by, asking me how I did. I looked up, and saw Miss Kitty standing on a little mound, within her grandfather's garden, and peering over the paling: her hair was done up in papers, and she wore a sort of loose wrapper, in consequence of which she looked by no means so august, but, as I thought, much more accessible, than she had looked on the Sunday. I was, however, more than half ashamed to be seen by her in the state I then was, for I had just been mixing up some bran and water for my rabbits, and my hands were plastered with the mixture.

"And so, Miss," said Miss Kitty, "you are busy with your rabbits! Well, and a very pretty rustic employment it is; I love rustic employments. How I do wish we had a garden in Cateaton Street: but there are no gardens in town, not so much as one could plant a sprig of rosemary in. You can't think, Miss, how fond I am of the country: and to lie in bed with the window open, and hear the cuckoo, is monstrous pleasant. They told me that I was to wish a wish, when I heard the cuckoo for the first time: and I heard it this morning, and I wished a wish. What do you think it was, Miss?"

"Indeed," I said, "I can't tell."

"Why, it was," she replied,--"but do not laugh at me, Miss,--it was, that you and your sisters would come and call on me, for do you know it is so dull here at grandmother's, nothing to see, nothing to do, nothing but churning, and baking, and scouring, and milking, and all those sorts of things, and grandmother sitting on one side of the fire, and grandfather on the other, so dull, and nobody to be seen worth looking at. Could you not come now and then, Miss, and let us have a bit of talk together? Do, Miss, do come and see me."

"I will ask papa," I replied.

"O, I am sure your papa will be quite agreeable, Miss," answered Miss Kitty. "But it is a long way about: could you not get over these here palings, and then you would be with me in no time? Here, just where I stand, you would only have to put yon bench as I see under that tree down there, and with one little jump you would be here in a trice, and it would be so pleasant. There is the old summerhouse in the corner of our wall, we could go there, and then I could show you some of the fine things I brought from London. Do you know, Miss, that I have got Charlotte and Walter worked in chenelles for my grandmother, which was done at school, and Peter weeping at Flora's tomb, to answer to it, and a filagree caddy, and a doll dressed in the last fashion, in a balloon hat and all, and several very nice books. There is 'The Sorrows of Sensibility,' and 'The Tears of the Heart,' and 'The Weeping Hero,' and 'The Rose of the Desert,' and several more: dear, I wish you would come and see them. Just lift that bench this way, and I will help you over."

I was not yet so far gone in undutifulness as not to make some little stand against this proposal. I felt that I had a chance of obtaining leave to visit Kitty in an open way, and that, though I had almost determined immediately to accept her invitation, I should certainly prefer doing it in a way which might be pleasing to my father rather than the contrary. I therefore declined climbing over the paling for the present; though not with that expression of dislike at the proposal which an upright girl would have shewn; and hastened to the house to find my father and ask permission to call on Mrs. Appleby's grand-daughter. My father hesitated a little, and then granted me what I asked, on condition that I went accompanied by my eldest sister.

That very afternoon was chosen for our first visit; but it did not afford me the satisfaction I expected, for Miss Kitty was from home, and we saw the old lady only. The next day Miss Kitty returned the visit in her balloon hat, and was asked to tea; but as my sister never left the room, and as Miss Kitty seemed under great restraint in her presence, I still found great dissatisfaction in the intercourse, and could not help feeling that if we were to 'visit in this formal way, it would suit me quite as well not to visit at all, for I had no other idea of the pleasures of society but that they consisted in that sort of familiar gossip in which no secret is kept, and in which even the moat absurd thoughts are revealed in unrestrained confidence.

A few days after this formal interchange of visits, I was again at my rabbit-hutch preparing parsley and thistles, when I was saluted by a voice from the mound, and looking up, I saw Miss Kitty's face, encircled by curl-papers, peeping over the paling.

"Miss Bell, Miss Bell," she said, "do come near, I have something to say to you. Dear me, what would I give for half-an-hour's pleasant chat with you. I am almost moped to death in this place, and not a creature to speak my mind to; I am thinking I am like grandfather's old owl, who sits all day winking and blinking on the great beam at the top of the barn. Well, but I have got a new "Lady's Magazine" from Town, and the very last fashions as are worn in the park; and, do you know, they don't wear the balloon hats any longer of satin, but of tiffany: satin is counted too hot for June; and I am vexed; I wish I had had mine of tiffany. I did think of it, but mother said there would be no service at all in tiffany in the country, and among the fields like: but do now step over these here palings, I'll give you a helping hand, and we will run to the summer-house through the filbert walk; the magazine is there; and grandmother will never know you are here, for she is as blind as a mole: now do come."

I made some few objections, but Miss Kitty soon answered them all, and so, to make my story short, I reached a little stool which was commonly used for milking, and setting it on one side of the paling, I climbed upon it and got over with very little difficulty. I then ran with Miss Kitty to the old summer-house, and there I remained talking with her till I feared I might be missed; but, being afraid to return by the way I had come, lest any of my brothers should be in the yard, as they sometimes visited my rabbits, I made a circuit, and came round to my father's house in another direction. I had not been missed, and in consequence was encouraged to repeat my visit the next day, and, indeed, these visits and these conversations over the paling were so constantly repeated, that at the end of a very few weeks our intimacy had arrived at such a height, that, to use an expression taken from one of Miss Kitty's own books, namely, "The Sorrows of Sensibility," "there was not a thought in the breast of either, which was not revealed to the other." Indeed such was the ardour of my affections, and such my desire for explicit communication, that I might have been said to have thought new thoughts, only that I might pour them out into the bosom of my amiable confidant: for I had thus reasoned with myself--"If my thoughts are not always such as a well-educated girl might be proud of, surely the avowal of them only exhibits the strength of my friendship in a stronger point of view; and how can anyone doubt of the overpowering nature of that sentiment, which actually deprives me of the capacity of concealing even my most inmost feelings from her whom I have been led to select as the object of my most tender regards?"

But what, it will be asked, were my friends about, that I should be enabled so completely to elude their vigilance for so long a time? I will explain this. My eldest brother was from home; it was haymaking time: and the leisure hours of my father and my younger brother were spent in the hay-field: and, more than this, we had a lady visiting in the house, who occupied much of the attention of my elder sisters. Thus I contrived for a time, perhaps for ton days or more, to pay a daily visit to my new friend, without incurring the slightest suspicion.

In the meantime, I had carried to my room and read all the books which Miss Kitty had brought from London. I had always slept alone, in a light closet within my sisters' apartment, and I generally spent some hours in reading every night and every morning, when the rest of the family were in bed. From these books I gathered a great deal which I did not know before. Among these pieces of information, some few in particular dwelt much on my mind: to wit, "that parents and elder sisters are often the greatest enemies young people can have; that they have frequently no greater delight than to mortify them and counteract their most innocent desires; and that people, as they advance in years, often lose more wisdom by the indulgence of prejudices, than they gain by the acquisition of experience." Besides reading these books, and gaining what I could from them, I had also acquired as much knowledge of fashionable life as could be supposed to proceed from Cateaton Street; and I had heard all the little tales of scandal belonging to Bilberry House, the school near town where Miss Kitty had been educated. I had also attained some very pretty accomplishments, such as talking with the fingers, ornamenting boxes of wafers, writing notes with lime-juice, and other smaller matters which it is of no moment to reveal; and in return I had related all our family histories, described the singularities of every individual of our household, and done my best to make my friend infer that my sister Sarah was as great a tyrant in heart as Nero or Procrustes.

I had proceeded very successfully with my visits and conversations, till one day, when my father happening to want me during one of my absences, and having called me himself for some time in vain, instituted a search for me throughout the domain (which, by and by, was not one of the widest), and sent every brother and sister I had to look me up. O what an uproar there was, when I had been some time called and searched for in vain! Luckily, however, as I then thought for me, the hounds were so loud in their cries after the hare, that their voices reached me even in the summer-house, and I distinctly heard my youngest brother shouting, as they say, at the very top of his voice, in a triplet of his own composition,

Bell Bell! sister Bell,
If you are in the well,
Be so kind as to tell."

What was to be done now? How was I to get back unobserved? I was terrified, and for the moment knew not what to do; but Miss Kitty, who had learned to manoeuver under more difficult circumstances at Bilberry House, told me not to be uneasy, but to follow her. I did as desired, and when we came to the side of the paling which separated the yard from the garden, she directed me to walk almost double, in order that I might not be seen, while ,she took her station on the mound and called to my little brother Henry who was still shouting his triplet. "Master Henry," she said, "Master Henry, have you lost Miss Bell?"

"Yes, Miss Kitty," replied Henry, "we cannot find her anywhere.'

"I heard her say, as I was walking along our filbert walk a short time since," replied Miss Kitty, "that she had missed one of her rabbits, and she asked me to look for it on this side of the paling, and I did seek it but could not find it; and I then advised her to look down the close among the clover, and you had better go there after her; I doubt not but that you will find her there up to the knees in the long grass."

This hint was no sooner conveyed to Henry, than he rushed from the yard, stopping all the persons he met, and turning them from that direction, while I lost no time in scrambling over the paling, and running to the house in a roundabout course.

However, as I could but give a lame account of myself, I was afraid of venturing again very soon into Mr. Appleby's garden, and, in consequence, did not see Miss Kitty for several days. At length, one evening, all my elder friends being in the parlour engaged with visitors, and my younger brothers and sisters being out of the way in another direction, I ran down the yard, climbed over the paling, and repaired to the summer-house, where, having made a sign which had been previously agreed upon, I was presently joined by Miss Kitty.

She did not bound up the steps of the summer-house in her usual lively manner, neither did she smile and run to embrace me in her customary style, but coldly extending her hand towards me, she said, "Upon my word, Miss Bell, you are a mighty great stranger; it is now four days since I have seen you; and if you did but know what I have suffered in that time, you would be sorry. I was so ill only yesterday, that grandmother was obliged to give me some of her own drops, and I was the worse because I could not tell her my troubles; but, after such declarations of friendship as you made to me only the last time we met, to think that you could be so near to me and never come anigh!" and thus lamenting she fell into a violent fit of passionate tears, pushing away my hand when I offered to take hers, and declaring that she had never in the whole course of her life been so shamefully treated.

It was in vain that I pleaded fear of being detected in my clandestine visits; she would by no means hearken to such reasons, assuring me, that if I loved her half as well as she loved me, I should never fear either friend or foe when I had it in my power to come to her; and she finished by telling me, that if ever I stayed away so long again, she should not be able to answer for herself, but should certainly come to our house, seek my father or my sister, and ease her mind at once by telling them all that had passed between us, and imploring their sanction to the continuance of our friendship.

"Surely," I said, in great alarm, "you would not do that?"

"Not if I was in my right mind," she replied: "but I could not answer for myself, if you were to neglect me again as you have done:" and then she added something about a wounded heart and friendship betrayed, all which had such an effect on my mind, and so strangely terrified me, that I neglected no means of soothing her, and 1 then engaged, that, come what would of it, I would either visit her daily or write to her, and throw my letter over the paling. She was soon appeased by these promises, and recovered her spirits; though nothing she could say relieved the uneasiness of my mind, for I now began to feel the weight of the chains which I had forged for myself. Yet the dread of detection made me afraid of breaking these fetters, which I might have done at once by making a free confession to my sister, who was my real friend. But how could I confess my gross folly? How could I acknowledge that I had made a stranger, and an inferior, the depositary of every family secret, of every silly and every undutiful thought? I thought it easier at that moment to go forward than to go back, for my intimate friend was already become my tyrant, though I tried to hide, even from myself, the real state of the case; and in this attempt to hide it, I rivetted my chains more closely.

For some days (the haymaking being over and our visitor being gone) I had no opportunity of getting into Mr. Appleby's garden; but I failed not to write every twenty-four hours, throwing my letters over the paling, and finding answers in a place agreed upon. My first note was written cautiously, but it brought a very reproachful answer, in which the writer complained very bitterly of my coldness, and used some of those alarming expressions which had frightened me so much in the summer-house. I tried to write the next in a less restrained manner, and in so doing, did what every prudent person should avoid with the utmost care: that is, I committed myself in black-and-white, and thus, as it were, prepared such witnesses against myself as could never be controverted. In this my second note, I complained of the excessive strictness of my father, and the watchfulness of my sister, together with the singular notions of my elder brother, who, I asserted, would never forgive me, should he find out that I carried on anything like a system of deception.

Miss Kitty's replies to my letters were written with much more art than I had used in my written addresses to her. She enlarged much on her delicate feelings, and other matters, but mentioned no persons by name: hence she did not provide me with those instruments against herself, with which I, on my part, so liberally supplied her. But it was not till some time afterwards that I observed this; and thus I went on, getting more and more involved in the snares that were laid for me, till at length the crisis of my little history approached its consummation.

It so happened that, for several days I had not been able to visit Miss Kitty, and had not seen her over the paling, when, one morning, I found the following note in the accustomed place--"Have you quite forgotten me, Isabella? Are you changed? or were the professions you made me at one time utterly false? Say that they were so, and drive me to distraction! Say but the word, and I will come and throw myself at your father's feet, and tell how I have been deceived. But no: I cannot think you deliberately false to your adoring friend. Come to me, then--come to me this evening at six o'clock: I cannot excuse you. I leave it to you to account for your absence. If you are really the warm-hearted, the tender friend I take you to be, you will surely find some reason to plead for being from home. No tyranny, no bars, no bolts, could ever have power to keep me from you. Why then do you hold back? Adieu, beloved of my heart. Your afflicted Kitty."

I was thrown into great confusion by this note, and knew not what I should do to elude the notice of my friends. I was, consequently, in great anxiety, and my mind was filled with various perplexing thoughts. Fortune, however, as I believed, favoured me; for, while we were at dinner, my father proposed a walk, with all his children, to the next little town, about three miles distant; directing us all to get ready at four o'clock, and, at the same time, ordering the servant to have the supper prepared at nine precisely.

It was not very difficult for me, as I had learned to utter falsehoods without pain, to excuse myself from accompanying my friends on their proposed excursion; and I had no sooner seen them clearly off the premises than I ran to my room, through my sister's chamber, seized my bonnet and tippet, and, passing back again, and perceiving my sister's watch, which had been my mother's, hanging at the head of her bed, I took it down and fastened it by its steel hook and chain to my side, thinking that it would be useful to indicate the hour when I must be back again. I then ran down the yard, climbed the paling, and was with Miss Kitty in the summer-house in a very short time.

Miss Kitty received me with great pleasure, and told me that she had sent for me to walk with her to cousin Dickson's.

This cousin Dickson was a farmer who lived in the next parish, and the father of a large family of grown-up sons and daughters, persons whom I well knew my father would not approve of for my companions. I was, therefore, I confess, much startled at this proposal, and made a variety of excuses, the principal of which were, that we did not visit the family, and that we might be met on the way by some one who might know me. Miss Kitty obviated these difficulties by saying that she would engage that none of her cousins would ever betray me, and that she would lead me through the wood in such by-ways as would secure us from all observation. Still I argued the point some time with my intimate friend, or, I should rather say, with my tyrant, but, at length, I gave way, and Miss Kitty and I set out, stealing first through the fold-yard of the farm, and then through the corner of an open field, till at length we found ourselves within the covert of a deep and tangled coppice, which extended along the side of the hill nearly as far as Mr. Dickson's fold-yard.

There was no great probability of our being met with in the wood, for Miss Kitty led me through such by-paths as would almost have puzzled a fox; this, as I afterwards found, not being the first of her stolen marches in that direction. In one place we leaped a ditch, in another we scrambled through a quickset hedge, and in another we fairly forced our way through a bramble bush; at the same time dipping over our shoes in a spring, whose secret course was concealed by marshmallows, and other water plants. At length, however, we arrived at the farm, and were very cordially received, and had a very noisy evening, for we played a game at blindman's buff in the kitchen; and though my conscience twinged me several times, I was, to all appearance, as merry as the merriest of them.

At length, it was necessary for us to think of home, as we had more than a quarter of a mile to walk. Accordingly, at a quarter after eight, we broke up the party, and Tom and Dick, the two eldest sons of the farmer (whom I never heard mentioned by any other appellations), accompanied us part of the way through the wood, for fear, they said, of some gipsies who haunted those parts, and might, perhaps, be uncivil.

As Tom and Dick were partners in the mystery of my disobedience, it is not to be supposed that I was able to keep them at a very great distance during our walk, or to look very much offended when they ventured to call me Bell, and to drag me through the bushes as they would have done a sheep that had strayed. I had indeed strayed--and strayed very far: neither did I know how to get back into my fold.

At length, in the course of our walk home, we again reached the miry piece of ground; and, in attempting to avoid the wet, I got more awkwardly entangled among the brambles than I had been before, and was so torn and perplexed, that I verily thought all my clothes would have been stripped from my back before I could be set at liberty. However, with the assistance of my companions I at length got free, and finding myself near home, I began to run, hastening onwards, in what I considered the direct line, and fearing that I had been already too long delayed. My companions shouted after me, but I would not hearken to them, for I had calculated, by the long shadows of the trees, that the evening was further advanced than I could have wished.

I was already at some distance from my escort, when a tall human figure presented itself at the entrance of a path down which I was about to strike. It was a woman in a short petticoat and a tattered cloak; but, as the light was at her back, I could not discern her face. In my haste I almost fell against her before I could recover myself, and, indeed, should have fallen, had she not caught me in her arms; at the same time using some exclamation which I did not understand. You may be sure that I recoiled with horror on finding myself in the arms of this ill-looking person, whom, when she spoke again, and called me by my name, I knew to be the same gipsy wife who had stolen the tankard, and who, when it was found upon her, only saved herself from severe punishment by pleading with tears, and bended knees, to the mercy of my father.

The shriek which I uttered presently brought Master Dick to my assistance; and I was really thankful for the offer of his arm through the rest of the wood, though it was as much as I could do to endure his coarse jests upon my adventure.

I was no sooner clear of the wood, than I hastened home with breathless speed, and had hardly time to take off my bonnet and arrange my hair before my friends came home.

There was much to be said while we were at supper respecting the adventures which my dear father and his children had encountered in their walk. How often did one and another say, "I wish, Isabella, you had been with us: you have lost many great pleasures." There had been a show of wild beasts in the village, and papa had treated them all to see the lions, and my little brothers and sisters could talk of nothing else but of fiery eyes, wide mouths, grinning teeth, long tails, and crooked claws. In listening to these adventures I had begun to recover a little from the agitation of my mind, when suddenly I bethought myself of my sister's watch, and, feeling on my side where I had hung it, I found with horror that it was not there.

No doubt I changed colour and looked terrified, for several of my sisters at once exclaimed, "What is the matter? look at Bell!" and my father, in great alarm, asked me if I were ill.

I answered that I felt sick, and Sarah rose immediately, took me up stairs and put me to bed; where, when I had lain down, my father came up and gave me a little warm wine and water to drink; but neither wine nor medicine could reach the seat of my disease, which was in my heart; and the kindness of my friends only added to my anguish. I, however, pretended that I was better, and inclined to sleep, and my friends retired to their own apartments.

My little closet, as I said before, was within the room in which my two elder sisters slept, and when the door was open I could hear from my bed all that passed in their apartment.

On this occasion I listened intently to all that was said, for I expected that my sisters would talk of me, and I was not mistaken: they spoke of my sudden illness, and Mary, my second sister, said that she thought I had not looked well for some time. Sarah agreed with her in this remark, and then they spoke in suppressed tones for a short time; after which, Mary, in her natural voice, asked Sarah what the hour was.

"I will look," replied Sarah: "I left my watch at the head of the bed, for, as I knew that to-day would be the fair at S----, I thought it best not to take it with me."

A silence of a moment followed, while Sarah was seeking her watch, and then an exclamation, "it is not here! Bring the candle, Mary, perhaps it may have fallen among the bedding." I then heard a kind of bustle, and various expressions of surprise rising more and more into amazement, and shortly afterwards both my sisters came to me to ask me if I had seen the watch. I felt now as if I must either stoutly assert that I knew nothing of it, or declare the whole of my wicked behaviour. Of these two ways I chose the worst, and asserted that I knew nothing at all respecting it.

The bell was then rung by my sister, and an old servant, who had long resided in the family, was called up and questioned. She replied that she saw the watch hanging at the head of the bed when she came up to receive some orders previously to my sisters' going out, but that she had not seen it since, having been occupied in ironing with the other servant in the kitchen.

Sarah was so uneasy that she could not think of going to bed till she had applied to my father, and brothers, and my other sisters. The alarm was now given, and every hole and corner of the house was searched. I was questioned again and again, as I was supposed to have been at home all evening; but no information could be got, and everybody went to bed in a very uncomfortable state of mind. The next day brought no more satisfaction respecting the lost watch than the night before. New researches were made, but no watch was to be found. Every box, chest, cupboard, and drawer was turned over, and I pretended to be one of the most forward in making the search. But when all efforts proved useless, my sister was obliged to accommodate herself to her loss as well as she could, though she certainly felt it deeply, because it had been her mother's watch. And there was also a worse effect than this produced. The watch was certainly gone, and gone out of my sister's room, and it could not have gone without hands: consequently, some one must have been guilty. The servants therefore feared that they were suspected, and thus became dissatisfied and uneasy, so that the peace of the family was greatly disturbed, as indeed must inevitably be the case in every household where a thief is harboured.

In the meantime I was afraid of renewing my visits to Miss Kitty. But I wrote to her to tell her the history of the watch, which evidently alarmed her, for she did not press me to come to her for several days.

I had no doubt in my own mind that I had lost the watch in my rencounter with the gipsy, and I consulted my intimate friend on the best way of forcing the old thief to give it up without making the affair public. In her answer to my letter on this subject, Miss Kitty promised that she would consult her cousins Dickson, and told me that I had nothing to do in the meantime but to keep myself quiet. I was rather comforted by the letter which brought me this assurance; but a second letter, which informed me that Tom and Dick had examined and threatened the gipsy in vain, threw me again into the greatest perplexity.

Several weeks passed on without bringing me any comfort, when my father and my two elder sisters were called to Bath, to my aunt, who was very ill; and the family were left in the care of my elder brother, who was, at that time, at home for the long vacation.

My brother was very busy and very authoritative in his new office, and kept us all in excellent order, as full authority had been given him by my father, till, one day, two of his university friends appeared at our door, each with a small knapsack on his back, proceeding on a pedestrian excursion through Wales. They stayed one night, and entreated my brother to accompany them on the next day's march; in consequence of which he was tempted to leave us, with the intention of sleeping out one night, and returning home the following evening. He was the more satisfied in leaving us, because we were then very busy with a dressmaker (or mantuamaker as we used to call persons of this description forty years ago;) and he took two of our brothers with him, in order that there might be fewer at home to make mischief.

Having seen my brothers depart with their young friends, I proceeded to feed my rabbits, and was there accosted by Miss Kitty, from her usual exalted post.

"So they are gone, Bell!" she said; (I was Miss Bell no longer:) "I saw your brothers over the field from my bed-room window, and I expected you would be with the rabbits. Well, but you will be able to get out this evening, and we will go to cousin Dickson's. There's the Miss Joneses from Llandhfit, and young Simson from the Rock Mill, and two or three more to be there tonight, and we are to have a dance on the green, and a syllabub and all, and you must come, and I will take no denial. You must be with me at four o'clock, and Tom says he will meet us in the wood."

"Oh! no, no," I exclaimed; "I have had enough of your schemes. I have never known peace since that miserable day when I lost the watch."

"But," replied Miss Kitty, "I was going to tell you, Tom says he thinks he has heard something about the watch, but he says he must reveal it to you his own self, for it is a secret; he won't even tell me."

Here was a temptation, indeed. Yet I resisted it for a while; and then Miss Kitty seeing me more firm than she expected, had recourse to some of those devices which she had not unfrequently used before with so much effect. She complained of the coldness of my affection, spoke of a time when I had been all heart, and warmth, and confidence, and reminded me of certain communications I then made to her, which she well knew that I should not wish to have revealed. Thus she let me feel that I was in her power, and I did so far feel it that I gave way to her proposal, although I trembled at what might be the consequences of this second gross act of disobedience.

At four o'clock I complained of a headache, and talked of taking a walk; one of my little sisters proposed accompanying me, but I told her that I had rather be alone; and thus having made my escape, I took a new bonnet in my hand, which my sister had sent me from Bath, ran down the yard, climbed over the paling, and was with Miss Kitty in a very short time. She was waiting in the summer-house, neatly dressed; and, as it was desirable that I should be got out of the premises without being observed, she led me through many circuitous ways, till at length we found ourselves within the shade of the woods; there we speedily met with our friend Mr. Thomas Dickson, whom I immediately questioned respecting what he had learned of the fate of my watch. The young man immediately began to tell me how he and his brother had questioned and threatened the old gipsy woman; adding, that if I would consent to let him take her before a justice, we should be sure of the stolen goods again; but to this I could never consent. While we were still speaking on this subject, we heard a rustling among the underwood, which made me start and look around; but seeing nothing we passed on, and soon reached the farm. All that Miss Kitty had promised me respecting the gaiety of the evening was fulfilled. We had a dance, a poor blind traveller being our musician; and were regaled with all sorts of dainties. Those who were there by the consent of their friends were perhaps happy, and really enjoyed themselves, but I was miserable. Yet I danced, and laughed, and talked; and perhaps laughed and talked the more because I was miserable: for "in much laughter," as the wise man says, "the heart is often sad," and those are often the most happy who would almost be thought dull in the eyes of a careless observer.

At length it was necessary for us to return; but just as we were about to set out, a violent summer-storm of rain came on, which delayed us nearly' an hour, and at length, when it abated, we resolved to lose no more time; but Miss Kitty and I were both in pain lest our hats should be spoiled. Mrs. Dickson, who was a careful well-meaning person, though she did very wrong in receiving me without the knowledge of my parents, insisted on lending us two old hats and cloaks; and having pinned us up, and dressed us in the articles I have mentioned, we set out, accompanied by the ploughman carrying a lantern, the Mr. Dicksons being so much engaged with the rest of the visitors as not to be able to accompany us.

The wind whistled drearily through the wood as we entered it, and the rain pattered among the leaves, the water falling in heavy drops from every brake and bush by which we brushed our course. The ploughman, a foolish, gaping, red-headed youth (who, by the by, was very much out of humour at the prospect of having to return through the coppice in the dark,) walked before us with his lantern, while we followed in silence, even Miss Kitty being sensibly uneasy at having to walk out so late.

We were arrived in the middle of the wood, when a low whistle met our ear on one side, which was immediately answered by another on the other; and at the same moment the horn lantern was struck out of the hand of our guide, and extinguished: a kind of scuffling noise then ensued, and the ploughman feeling some one busy about him, began to strike and scatter his blows in every direction, with so little caution, that I and Miss Kitty had no small share of them.

What had we to do in such a situation but to scream for help? and, in truth, we made the woods ring again with our cries, for we did not doubt but that we were thus assailed by the gipsies, nor were we much at a loss to account for the cause of their displeasure against us. It was indeed but recently that the mother of the gang had been charged with stealing my watch, and threatened severely on that account; and we ought to have been very careful how we exposed ourselves to the attacks of these unprincipled vagrants. But to proceed with my story.

Such was our excessive alarm and confusion, (being left in total darkness,) that, when we felt the blows of the ploughman, we were quite incapable of distinguishing friends from foes. We knew not which way to run; and indeed if we had known the way, we should probably have been little better off in our extreme embarrassment. As it was, we soon got so entangled in the brakes and brambles, being, at the same time, enveloped in total darkness, that we could neither advance nor recede: and, for my own part, I was so wholly overpowered with fear, remorse, and shame, and I should almost have rejoiced if the earth had opened and swallowed me up.

Miss Kitty, in the meantime, continued to shriek, while the ploughman, who was as little able to retreat as we were, began to use such language as is common to such people when in anger and fear. This was our situation when suddenly a light glimmered through the trees, and the next minute brought several persons hastening towards us with a lantern, and crying, "What is that noise? Who is there? We will see that no one shall be hurt with impunity!"

"It is Dick and Tom," said Miss Kitty, recovering herself, and raising her voice, "this way, this way--help! help! we shall be murdered!"

The persons bearing the lantern advanced; and oh, conceive my horror, when I recognised my brothers, who had returned sooner than they had intended, and in a direction I had not expected. Terrified as I had been before, I then thought that I should have actually fainted. I supported myself with the stem of a tree near which I stood, and drew my bonnet over my fate. My brothers approached, and recognizing Miss Kitty, they addressed her politely, and asked what had terrified her.

"We were returning home," answered Miss Kitty, "I and my friend"--and then she hesitated, perhaps recollecting for the first time how this friend was connected to the gentlemen to whom she was speaking.

My eldest brother waited a moment that she might proceed, and then addressing the ploughman--"What has alarmed you, my honest friend?" he said. "You are a pretty champion for ladies, indeed; you look as white as your own frock?"

"And well might I, my master," replied the young man: "to be attacked as I went quietly along about my business to take care of these Misses to their homes, and have my lantern all broken to pieces, and forty fists at least applied to my shoulders! I should like to know if it was not enough to make a man's cheek look white! But if I am not even with them gipsies, my name is not Timothy."

"The gipsies!" said my brother; "what should they have meddled with you for?"

"What for?" replied Timothy, "what for? ay, that's the question: but the blows were not meant for me; I knows that very well. If they had fallen where they were intended, somebody else's shoulders would ache now, instead of mine. But I told Master Tom how it would be, when he was always threatening them about that bit of a timepiece which he says they nabbed."

"What timepiece?" asked my brother.

"Nonsense; hold your peace and go on, Timothy," said Miss Kitty, interrupting the peasant.

"What timepiece?" repeated the young Oxonian sternly.

"That bit of a watch, that Miss there lost," replied the ploughman.

My brothers all turned to me on hearing this.

"What Miss?" enquired my brother.

"Why, that un," replied the boy.

"That one?" said my eldest brother, as he stepped across the path, seized my hand, and compelled me to show my face.

Never shall I forget his exclamation when he recognised me. Nothing but a brother's love, in an honourable mind, could have inspired such an expression of horror, shame, and anger. He stood before rile in all the majesty of youthful and manly dignity, and seemed to me, as he uttered his stern reproof, like the angel Gabriel as described by Milton, when he reproved the archfiend.

Never shall I forget the manner in which he asked me what I did in that place, and the noble severity of countenance with which he awaited my reply.

I was unable to look up to him for more than a moment. At length I fell on my knees before him on the dripping ground--I implored his mercy--I promised him I would tell all. I assured him of my repentance and shame.

My other two brothers were touched with my sorrow, and entreated him to forgive me.

He raised me up; but it was in a cold and angry manner that he placed my arm under his. He directed Miss Kitty to walk before him, telling her that he would see her safe into the care of her grandmother; then bidding the ploughman light his shattered lantern and return home, and requesting his younger brothers to walk on each side of Miss Kitty, he caused us to proceed without further loss of time. There was something solemn and imposing in our silent march towards home. We were all struck dumb, with the exception of Miss Kitty, who attempted twice to interrupt the silence by some ingenious explanation of the situation in which we had been found.

"If you have any explanation to make, Madam," replied my brother, "it is not due to me but to your grandmother. When I have seen you into her protection, I shall consider that I have done my part by you. It is from my sister that I shall expect to hear the account of the strange scene of this evening."

Even Miss Kitty, with all her effrontery, could not resist the dignified and cold manner of my brother; and as to myself, I was ready to faint, and should hardly have been able to support myself, had I not held my brother's arm.

When arrived at Mr. Appleby's, we knocked, and stood at the door till we saw Miss Kitty enter. My brother then led the way and we walked in silence to our own house. There, being brought into the parlour, he, as I had expected, began to call upon me to explain the events of the evening. "And first," he said, "what have you done with your sister's watch?"

This question, at least in the direct manner in which it was put, I certainly did not expect; and I again fell at my brother's feet.

"Kneel not to me, sister," he said. "It becomes me not to suffer it: but rather make me your friend. I am grieved, I am wounded; but I still love you. Make me your friend, confess everything, and trust me to make your peace with our father."

Thus, being so kindly invited and urged, and being pressingly and affectionately entreated by my two other brothers who were present, I disclosed everything, and as far as I could recollect, concealed no single instance of my delinquency. And, having so done, I felt immediate peace, and was consoled by the tender embraces of each of my excellent brothers.

"And now, my Bell," said my eldest brother, "now that I have found a sister that was lost, you shall be made happy in knowing what else we have found." So saying, he drew from his breast our mother's watch, which, he informed me, they had discovered hanging in a thicket, near a marshy piece of ground in the very depths of the wood, through which, they added, they should never have been able to make their way, had they not borrowed a lantern, at a cottage at the entrance of the thicket.

Bow did I rejoice at that moment, not only to see the watch, but to think that I had confessed the whole truth to my brother. And this excellent brother was faithful to his promise, and made my peace with my father. But my intimate friend was, from that time, entirely lost to me: and as I never chose another, in preference to my own family, I never again fell into any of those disgraceful errors, of which I have given so exact a narrative in the foregoing pages.

And now, my gentle reader, let me conclude my narrative, by cautioning you to avoid those hot and hasty friendships of which young people are so fond, and the consequence of which so many have found occasion to lament, not only for a few weeks, but through the course of a long life.