h
which led to the house! A confused recollection of having seen somebody
who resembled him, immediately occurred, to puzzle and torment her with
endless conjectures. Five minutes sooner, and she should have seen his
face, and been out of suspense--was ever any thing so unlucky! His
steady, bold step, and the whole air of his person, bursting as it were
from a cloud, pleased her, and gave an outline to the imagination to
sketch the individual form she wished to recognize.

Feeling the disappointment more severely than she was willing to believe,
she flew to Rousseau, as her only refuge from the idea of him, who might
prove a friend, could she but find a way to interest him in her fate;
still the personification of Saint Preux, or of an ideal lover far
superior, was after this imperfect model, of which merely a glance had
been caught, even to the minutiae of the coat and hat of the stranger.
But if she lent St. Preux, or the demi-god of her fancy, his form, she
richly repaid him by the donation of all St. Preux's sentiments and
feelings, culled to gratify her own, to which he seemed to have an
undoubted right, when she read on the margin of an impassioned letter,
written in the well-known hand--"Rousseau alone, the true Prometheus of
sentiment, possessed the fire of genius necessary to pourtray the
passion, the truth of which goes so directly to the heart."

Maria was again true to the hour, yet had finished Rousseau, and begun to
transcribe some selected passages; unable to quit either the author or
the window, before she had a glimpse of the countenance she daily longed
to see; and, when seen, it conveyed no distinct idea to her mind where
she had seen it before. He must have been a transient acquaintance; but
to discover an acquaintance was fortunate, could she contrive to attract
his attention, and excite his sympathy.

Every glance afforded colouring for the picture she was delineating on
her heart; and once, when the window was half open, the sound of his
voice reached her. Conviction flashed on her; she had certainly, in a
moment of distress, heard the same accents. They were manly, and
characteristic of a noble mind; nay, even sweet--or sweet they seemed to
her attentive ear.

She started back, trembling, alarmed at the emotion a strange coincidence
of circumstances inspired, and wondering why she thought so much of a
stranger, obliged as she had been by his timely interference; [for she
recollected, by degre