ak off the connection on pain of his
highest displeasure. But such is the force of early impressions,
(Melissa sighed) that my uncle found it impossible to submit to these
firm injunctions; a clandestine marriage ensued, and my grandfather's
maledictions in consequence. The union was, however, soon dissolved; my
uncle's wife died in about twelve months after their marriage, and soon
after the birth of the first child, which was a daughter. Inconsolable
and comfortless, my uncle put the child out to nurse, and travelled to
the south. After wandering about for some time, he took up his residence
in Charleston, where he amassed a splendid fortune. He finally married
to an amiable and respectable woman, whose tenderness, though it did not
entirely remove, yet greatly alleviated the pangs of early sorrow; and
this, added to the little blandishments of a young family, fixed him in
a state of more contentedness than he once ever expected to see.

"His daughter by his first wife, when she became of proper age, was sent
to a respectable boarding-school in Boston, where she remained until
within about two years before I came here.

"Alfred was educated at Harvard College: as soon as he had graduated, he
came here on my uncle's request, and has since remained in his family.

"Soon after I arrived here; my uncle came into my chamber one day.
"Melissa, said he, I find by your father's letters that he considers you
to have formed an improper connection. I wish you to give me a true
statement of the matter, and if any thing can be done to reconcile you
to your father, you may depend upon my assistance. I have seen some
troubles in this way myself, in my early days; perhaps my counsel may be
of some service."

"I immediately gave a correct account of every particular circumstance,
from the time of my first acquaintance with you until my arrival at this
house. He sat some time silent, and then told me that my father, he
believed, had drawn the worst side of the picture; and that he had urged
him to exert every means in his power to reclaim me to obedience: That
Beauman was to follow me in a few months, and that, if I still refused
to yield him my hand, my father positively and solemnly declared that he
would discard me forever, and strenuously enjoined it upon him to do the
same. "I well know my brother's temper, continued my uncle; the case is
difficult, but something must be done. I will immediately write to your
father, desiring h