in my frequent rambles, I perceived this apartment
was occupied, I gave a different direction to my steps. One evening,
when a shower had just passed, judging by the silence that no one
was within, I ascended to this building. Glancing carelessly round, I
perceived an open letter on the pedestal. To read it was doubtless an
offence against politeness. Of this offence, however, I was guilty.

"Scarcely had I gone half through when I was alarmed by the approach
of your brother. To scramble down the cliff on the opposite side
was impracticable. I was unprepared to meet a stranger. Besides
the aukwardness attending such an interview in these circumstances,
concealment was necessary to my safety. A thousand times had I vowed
never again to employ the dangerous talent which I possessed; but such
was the force of habit and the influence of present convenience, that I
used this method of arresting his progress and leading him back to the
house, with his errand, whatever it was, unperformed. I had often caught
parts, from my station below, of your conversation in this place, and
was well acquainted with the voice of your sister.

"Some weeks after this I was again quietly seated in this recess. The
lateness of the hour secured me, as I thought, from all interruption.
In this, however, I was mistaken, for Wieland and Pleyel, as I judged by
their voices, earnest in dispute, ascended the hill.

"I was not sensible that any inconvenience could possibly have flowed
from my former exertion; yet it was followed with compunction, because
it was a deviation from a path which I had assigned to myself. Now
my aversion to this means of escape was enforced by an unauthorized
curiosity, and by the knowledge of a bushy hollow on the edge of the
hill, where I should be safe from discovery. Into this hollow I thrust
myself.

"The propriety of removal to Europe was the question eagerly discussed.
Pleyel intimated that his anxiety to go was augmented by the silence
of Theresa de Stolberg. The temptation to interfere in this dispute was
irresistible. In vain I contended with inveterate habits. I disguised to
myself the impropriety of my conduct, by recollecting the benefits which
it might produce. Pleyel's proposal was unwise, yet it was enforced
with plausible arguments and indefatigable zeal. Your brother might be
puzzled and wearied, but could not be convinced. I conceived that
to terminate the controversy in favor of the latter was conferrin