prejudices, but loves to hear of the felicity which nature and virtue
bestow."

Upon this the old man related what follows.

In the year 1735 there came to this spot a young widow named Madame de
la Tour. She was of a noble Norman family; but her husband was of
obscure birth. She had married him portionless, and against the will of
her relations, and they had journeyed here to seek their fortune. The
husband soon died, and his widow found herself destitute of every
possession except a single negro woman. She resolved to seek a
subsistence by cultivating a small plot of ground, and this was the spot
that she chose.

Providence had one blessing in store for Madame de la Tour--the blessing
of a friend. Inhabiting this spot was a sprightly and sensible woman of
Brittany, named Margaret. She, like madame, had suffered from the
sorrows of love; she had fled to the colonies, and had here established
herself with her baby and an old negro, whom she had purchased with a
poor, borrowed purse.

When Madame de la Tour had unfolded to Margaret her former condition and
her present wants the good woman was moved with compassion; she tendered
to the stranger a shelter in her cottage and her friendship. I knew them
both, and went to offer them my assistance. The territory in the
rock-basin, amounting to about twenty acres, I divided equally between
them. Margaret's cottage was on the boundary of her own domain, and
close at hand I built another cottage for Madame de la Tour. Scarcely
had I completed it when a daughter was born to madame. She was called
Virginia; the infant son of Margaret bore the name of Paul.

The two friends, so dear to each other in spite of their difference in
rank, spun cotton for a livelihood. They seldom visited Port Louis, for
fear of the contempt with which they were treated on account of the
coarseness of their dress. But if they were exposed to a little
suffering when abroad, they returned home with so much more additional
satisfaction. They found there cleanliness and freedom, blessings which
they owed entirely to their own industry, and to servants animated with
zeal and affection. As for themselves, they had but one will, one
interest, one table. They had everything in common.

Their mutual love redoubled at the sight of their two children. Nothing
was to be compared with the attachment which the babes showed for each
other. If Paul complained, they brought Virginia to him; at the sight of
her he