faint adviser, and with general approbation at the
conclusion of the first year of her widowhood she became his wife.

His affairs soon called him into a more inland part of the country, to
which she attributed her never having heard from her sister, to whom she
wrote an account of her husband's death; but by what Miss Mancel told
her she imagined her letter had not been received.

Mr and Mrs Thornby continued in the same place, till about two years
before her arrival in England; but his health growing extremely bad, he
was advised by his physicians to return to Europe. He wished to
re-visit his native country but was persuaded, for the re-establishment
of his constitution, to spend some time in Italy. The climate at first
seemed to relieve him, but his complaints returning with greater
violence, he died in the latter part of the second year of his abode
there.

His estate in the Indies he bequeathed to a nephew who lived upon the
spot; but the money he had sent before him into England, which amounted
to forty thousand pounds, he left to his widow. He had desired to be
interred at Florence, where he died. As soon as the funeral was over,
and some other necessary affairs settled, Mrs Thornby set out for
England, where she no sooner arrived than she employed intelligent
persons to find out her sister-in-law and daughter, but had not received
any account from them, when her daughter was restored to her as the free
gift of providence.

Mrs Thornby was now more desirous than ever to hear each minute
particular that had befallen her Louisa; but Louisa begged that before
she obeyed her orders she might have permission to communicate the happy
event to Mr d'Avora, whose joy she knew would be nearly equal to her
own. A messenger was dispatched for this purpose, and then she related
circumstantially all the incidents in her short life, except her partial
regard to Sir Edward Lambton, which filial awe induced her to suppress.

Mrs Thornby grew every day more delighted with her daughter, as her
acquired accomplishments and natural excellencies became more
conspicuous on longer acquaintance. Her maternal love seemed to glow
with greater warmth for having been so long stifled, and Louisa found
such delight in the tender affection of a mother that she was scarcely
sensible of the agreeable change in her situation, which was now in
every circumstance the most desirable. All that fortune could give she
had it in her power to enjoy,