toleration; and I felt more disgusted and
annoyed at the coarse and extravagant
compliments which he was pleased from
time to time to pay me, than perhaps the
extent of the atrocity might fully have
warranted. It was, however, one consolation
that he did not often appear, being
much engrossed by pursuits about which I
neither knew nor cared anything; but
when he did appear, his attentions, either
with a view to his amusement or to some
more serious advantage, were so obviously
and perseveringly directed to me, that
young and inexperienced as I was, even _I_
could not be ignorant of his preference. I
felt more provoked by this odious persecution
than I can express, and discouraged
him with so much vigour, that I employed
even rudeness to convince him that his
assiduities were unwelcome; but all in
vain.

This had gone on for nearly a twelve-
month, to my infinite annoyance, when one
day as I was sitting at some needle-work
with my companion Emily, as was my
habit, in the parlour, the door opened,
and my cousin Edward entered the room.
There was something, I thought, odd in
his manner--a kind of struggle between