by the
Sergeant, first with good words and then with menaces. I remember dimly,
that I at one time found myself in a foul and wretched house, where
hideous men treated me harshly, and I longed to die.---- Then comes,
like a sunbeam, the impression of another home, of a clear heaven, pure
air, green meadows, and of friendly, mild people, who, with infinite
tenderness, cherished the sick and weakly child which I then was. This
home was Alette's; and her excellent parents, after they had recalled me
to life, adopted me as their son. My new relationships became
unspeakably dear to me; I was happy; my illness and the long succeeding
weakness had almost wholly obliterated the memory of the past. I had
forgotten the names of both people and places, yet never did I forget my
childhood's earliest, motherly cherisher. Like a lovely and holy image
has she followed me through life, although, with the lapse of years,
she, as it were, folded herself continually in a thicker veil.

"When I was older, I requested and received from my foster-father an
explanation of my reception into his house. I then found that he had one
day called on Mr. K---- in Christiansand, and had seen there a most
feeble and pale child, who sate in the sunshine on the floor. The child
began to weep, but hushed itself in terror when Mr. K----went up sharply
to it, and threatened it with the dark room. Moved by this occurrence,
my benefactor inquired to whom the boy belonged, and received for answer
that it was a poor child without connexions, and who had been taken in
charity and committed to K----'s care. Alette's father resolved at
once, cost what it would, to take the child out of this keeping, and
offered to take the boy himself, and try what the country air would do
for the restoration of his health. It was in this manner that I came
into the family which I thence called my own. I could obtain no
explanation respecting my parents, nor respecting my peculiar connexion
with Mr. K----. K---- died a few weeks after my removal from his house,
and his wife either knew or pretended to know nothing whatever about me.

"But my excellent foster-parents never allowed me to feel that I had no
real relatives. They made no difference between me and their own child,
and Alette became to me the tenderest and best of sisters. Death
deprived us of this beloved support; Alette's father has been now dead
two years: Alette removed to some near relatives, in order after a
certa