? Is there any commerce more
advantageous than the culture of the ground, which yields sometimes fifty
or a hundred fold? If we wish to engage in commerce, we can do so by
carrying our superfluities to the town, without my wandering to the Indies.
Our mothers tell me, that Domingo is old and feeble; but I am young, and
gather strength every day. If any accident should happen during my absence,
above all, to Virginia, who already suffers--Oh, no, no!--I cannot resolve
to learn them.'

"This answer threw me into great perplexity, for Madame de la Tour had not
concealed from me the situation of Virginia, and her desire of separating
those young people for a few years. These ideas I did not dare to suggest
to Paul.

"At this period, a ship, which arrived from France, brought Madame de la
Tour a letter from her aunt. Alarmed by the terrors of approaching death,
which could alone penetrate a heart so insensible, recovering from a
dangerous disorder, which had left her in a state of weakness, rendered
incurable by age, she desired that her niece would return to France; or, if
her health forbade her to undertake so long a voyage, she conjured her to
send Virginia, on whom she would bestow a good education, procure for her a
splendid marriage, and leave her the inheritance of her whole fortune. The
perusal of this letter spread general consternation through the family.
Domingo and Mary began to weep. Paul, motionless with surprise, appeared as
if his heart was ready to burst with indignation; while Virginia, fixing
her eyes upon her mother, had not power to utter a word.

"'And can you now leave us?' cried Margaret to Madame de la Tour. 'No, my
dear friend, no, my beloved children,' replied Madame de la Tour; 'I will
not leave you. I have lived with you, and with you I will die. I have known
no happiness but in your affection. If my health be deranged, my past
misfortunes are the cause. My heart, deeply wounded by the cruelty of a
relation, and the loss of my husband, has found more consolation and
felicity with you beneath these humble huts, than all the wealth of my
family could now give me in my own country.'

"At this soothing language every eye overflowed with tears of delight. Paul
pressed Madame de la Tour in his arms, exclaiming, 'Neither will I leave
you! I will not go to the Indies. We will all labour for you, my dear
mother; and you shall never feel any wants with us.' But of the whole
society, the person who displ