and Bessy. I had no secrets from her, and she
earnestly advised me to try if I could not make up my mind to a union
with a person of whom I could not possibly speak but with the highest
encomiums.

"Depend upon it, my dear Tom," said she, "she will make you a good wife;
and with her as a companion you will soon forget the unhappy attachment
which has made you so miserable. I am not qualified from experience to
advise you on this point, but I have a conviction in my own mind that
Bessy is really just the sort of partner for life who will make you
happy. And then, you owe much to Bramble, and you are aware how happy it
would make him; and as her partiality for you is already proved, I do
wish that you would think seriously upon what I now say. I long to see
and make her acquaintance, but I really long much more to embrace her as
a sister."

I could not help acknowledging that Bessy was as perfect as I could
expect any one to be, where none are perfect. I admitted the truth and
good sense of my sister's reasoning, and the death of Janet contributed
not a little to assist her arguments; but she was not the only one who
appeared to take an interest in this point: my father would hint at it
jocosely, and Mrs. St. Felix did once compliment me on my good fortune
in having the chance of success with a person whom every one admired and
praised. The party, however, who had most weight with me was old
Anderson, who spoke to me unreservedly and seriously.

"Tom," said he, "you must be aware that Bramble and I are great friends,
and have been so for many years. He has no secrets from me, and I have
no hesitation in telling you that his regards and affections are so
equally bestowed between you and his adopted child that it is difficult
for himself to say to which he is the most attached; further, as he has
told me, his fervent and his dearest wish--the one thing which will make
him happy, and the only one without which he will not be happy, although
he may be resigned--is that a union should take place between you and
Bessy. I am not one of those who would persuade you to marry her out of
gratitude to Bramble. Gratitude may be carried too far; but she is, by
all accounts, amiable and beautiful, devoted to excess, and capable of
any exertion and any sacrifice for those she loves; and, Tom, she loves
you. With her I consider that you have every prospect of being happy in
the most important step in life. You may say that you do not l