ation, to make him
his executor, and the guardian of his daughter. The Neapolitan
understood enough of English to explain his wishes to this friendly
attendant of his death-bed. As his circumstances were narrow, the
servants of the stranger, two Italians, a male and a female, were sent
back to their own country soon after the death of their master.

Laura was at this time eight years of age. At these tender years she had
been susceptible of little direct instruction; and, as she grew up, even
the memory of her father became, from year to year, more vague and
indistinct in her mind. But there was something she derived from her
father, whether along with the life he bestowed, or as the consequence
of his instruction and manners, which no time could efface. Every added
year of her life contributed to develop the fund of her accomplishments.
She read, she observed, she reflected. Without instructors, she taught
herself to draw, to sing, and to understand the more polite European
languages. As she had no society in this remote situation but that of
peasants, she had no idea of honour or superiority to be derived from
her acquisitions; but pursued them from a secret taste, and as the
sources of personal enjoyment.

A mutual attachment gradually arose between her and the only son of her
guardian. His father led him, from early youth, to the labours and the
sports of the field, and there was little congeniality between his
pursuits and those of Laura. But this was a defect that she was slow to
discover. She had never been accustomed to society in her chosen
amusements, and habit at that time even made her conceive, that they
were indebted to solitude for an additional relish. The youthful rustic
had great integrity, great kindness of heart, and was a lad of excellent
sense. He was florid, well-proportioned, and the goodness of his
disposition made his manners amiable. Accomplishments greater than these
she had never seen in human form, since the death of her father. In
fact, she is scarcely to be considered as a sufferer in this instance;
since, in her forlorn and destitute condition, it is little probable,
when we consider the habits and notions that now prevail, that her
accomplishments, unassisted by fortune, would have procured her an equal
alliance in marriage.

When she became a mother her heart opened to a new affection. The idea
now presented itself, which had never occurred before, that in her
children at least she