of those whom he called his children, and the conversation of a few
select friends, anticipated the effect of time, and softened the
asperities of his distress into a tender complacent melancholy. As for
Louisa and myself, who were yet new in life, and whose spirits
possessed the happy elasticity of youth, our minds gradually shifted
from suffering to tranquillity, and from tranquillity to happiness. I
have sometimes thought that when my brother has been reading to her a
delightful passage, the countenance of Louisa discovered a tender
interest, which seemed to be excited rather by the reader than by the
author. These days, which were surely the most enviable of our lives,
now passed in serene enjoyments, and in continual gradations of
improvement.

'The count designed my brother for the army, and the time now drew
nigh when he was to join the Sicilian regiment, in which he had a
commission. The absent thoughts, and dejected spirits of my cousin,
now discovered to me the secret which had long been concealed even
from herself; for it was not till Orlando was about to depart, that
she perceived how dear he was to her peace. On the eve of his
departure, the count lamented, with fatherly yet manly tenderness, the
distance which was soon to separate us. "But we shall meet again,"
said he, "when the honors of war shall have rewarded the bravery of my
son." Louisa grew pale, a half suppressed sigh escaped her, and, to
conceal her emotion, she turned to her harpsichord.

'My brother had a favorite dog, which, before he set off, he presented
to Louisa, and committing it to her care, begged she would be kind to
it, and sometimes remember its master. He checked his rising emotion,
but as he turned from her, I perceived the tear that wetted his cheek.
He departed, and with him the spirit of our happiness seemed to