basest of crimes. Luckily for me, I was, for the present, exempted from
temptation. I had formed an acquaintance with a young American captain.
On being partially informed of my situation, he invited me to embark
with him for his own country. My passage was gratuitous. I arrived, in a
short time, at Charleston, which was the place of his abode.

"He introduced me to his family, every member of which was, like
himself, imbued with affection and benevolence. I was treated like their
son and brother. I was hospitably entertained until I should be able to
select some path of lucrative industry. Such was my incurable depravity,
that I made no haste to select my pursuit. An interval of inoccupation
succeeded, which I applied to the worst purposes.

"My friend had a sister, who was married, but during the absence of her
husband resided with her family. Hence originated our acquaintance. The
purest of human hearts and the most vigorous understanding were hers.
She idolized her husband, who well deserved to be the object of her
adoration. Her affection for him, and her general principles, appeared
to be confirmed beyond the power to be shaken. I sought her intercourse
without illicit views; I delighted in the effusions of her candour and
the flashes of her intelligence; I conformed, by a kind of instinctive
hypocrisy, to her views; I spoke and felt from the influence of
immediate and momentary conviction. She imagined she had found in me a
friend worthy to partake in all her sympathies and forward all her
wishes. We were mutually deceived. She was the victim of self-delusion;
but I must charge myself with practising deceit both upon myself and
her.

"I reflect with astonishment and horror on the steps which led to her
degradation and to my calamity. In the high career of passion all