"Ah!" said he, "this, perhaps, is the only one of many victims to this
pestilence whose loss the remotest generations may have reason to
deplore. He was the only descendant of an illustrious house of Venice.
He has been devoted from his childhood to the acquisition of knowledge
and the practice of virtue. He came hither as an enlightened observer;
and, after traversing the country, conversing with all the men in it
eminent for their talents or their office, and collecting a fund of
observations whose solidity and justice have seldom been paralleled, he
embarked, three months ago, for Europe.

"Previously to his departure, he formed a tender connection with the
eldest daughter of this family. The mother and her children had recently
arrived from England. So many faultless women, both mentally and
personally considered, it was not my fortune to meet with before. This
youth well deserved to be adopted into this family. He proposed to
return with the utmost expedition to his native country, and, after the
settlement of his affairs, to hasten back to America and ratify his
contract with Fanny Walpole.

"The ship in which he embarked had scarcely gone twenty leagues to sea,
before she was disabled by a storm, and obliged to return to port. He
posted to New York, to gain a passage in a packet shortly to sail.
Meanwhile this malady prevailed among us. Mary Walpole pole was hindered
by her ignorance of the nature of that evil which assailed us, and the
counsel of injudicious friends, from taking the due precautions for her
safety. She hesitated to fly till flight was rendered impracticable. Her
death added to the helplessness and distraction of the family. They were
successively seized and destroyed by the same pest.

"Maravegli was apprized of their danger. He allowed the packet to depart