by a long and constant intimacy with her discovered her real
Character. Such was Louisa when the hapless Lesley first beheld
her at Drummond-house. His heart which (to use your favourite
comparison) was as delicate as sweet and as tender as a Whipt-
syllabub, could not resist her attractions. In a very few Days,
he was falling in love, shortly after actually fell, and before
he had known her a Month, he had married her. My Father was at
first highly displeased at so hasty and imprudent a connection;
but when he found that they did not mind it, he soon became
perfectly reconciled to the match. The Estate near Aberdeen
which my brother possesses by the bounty of his great Uncle
independant of Sir George, was entirely sufficient to support him
and my Sister in Elegance and Ease. For the first twelvemonth,
no one could be happier than Lesley, and no one more amiable to
appearance than Louisa, and so plausibly did she act and so
cautiously behave that tho' Matilda and I often spent several
weeks together with them, yet we neither of us had any suspicion
of her real Disposition. After the birth of Louisa however,
which one would have thought would have strengthened her regard
for Lesley, the mask she had so long supported was by degrees
thrown aside, and as probably she then thought herself secure in
the affection of her Husband (which did indeed appear if possible
augmented by the birth of his Child) she seemed to take no pains
to prevent that affection from ever diminushing. Our visits
therefore to Dunbeath, were now less frequent and by far less
agreable than they used to be. Our absence was however never
either mentioned or lamented by Louisa who in the society of
young Danvers with whom she became acquainted at Aberdeen (he was
at one of the Universities there,) felt infinitely happier than
in that of Matilda and your freind, tho' there certainly never