ne sometimes that I hear the sea roar, and wished myself again on
the Atlantic, till I had a glimpse of you[65-A]."

A few moments were only allowed to Maria to comment on this narrative,
when Darnford left her to her own thoughts, to the "never ending, still
beginning," task of weighing his words, recollecting his tones of voice,
and feeling them reverberate on her heart.

FOOTNOTES:

[54-A] The copy which had received the author's last corrections, breaks
off in this place, and the pages which follow, to the end of Chap. IV,
are printed from a copy in a less finished state.

[65-A] The introduction of Darnford as the deliverer of Maria in a former
instance, appears to have been an after-thought of the author. This has
occasioned the omission of any allusion to that circumstance in the
preceding narration.

EDITOR.

CHAP. IV.

PITY, and the forlorn seriousness of adversity, have both been considered
as dispositions favourable to love, while satirical writers have
attributed the propensity to the relaxing effect of idleness, what chance
then had Maria of escaping, when pity, sorrow, and solitude all conspired
to soften her mind, and nourish romantic wishes, and, from a natural
progress, romantic expectations?

Maria was six-and-twenty. But, such was the native soundness of her
constitution, that time had only given to her countenance the character
of her mind. Revolving thought, and exercised affections had banished
some of the playful graces of innocence, producing insensibly that
irregularity of features which the struggles of the understanding to
trace or govern the strong emotions of the heart, are wont to imprint on
the yielding mass. Grief and care had mellowed, without obscuring, the
bright tints of youth, and the thoughtfulness which resided on her brow
did not take from the feminine softness of her features; nay, such was
the sensibility which often mantled over it, that she frequently
appeared, like a large proportion of her sex, only born to feel; and the
activity of her well-proportioned, and even almost voluptuous figure,
inspired the idea of strength of mind, rather than of body. There was a
simplicity sometimes indeed in her manner, which bordered on infantine
ingenuousness, that led people of common discernment to underrate her
talents, and smile at the flights of her imagination. But those who could
not comprehend the delicacy of her sentiments, were attached by her
unfailing sympathy,