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122 "I interrupted him, and, with the ardour of an impassioned lover, expressed my transports, declaring that I adored her.

"'Nay, nay,' replied the good man smiling, 'for the present more moderation; you forget the late cause of your alarm; but I will explain her situation. I have had several children; Angelina was the youngest of all my little ones, and she only survived; the last that death deprived me of was a boy about the age of eleven: Angelina was then seven, but though so young, her sensibility was much affected by the loss of her brother, insomuch that I feared, in following him to the grave, I might be left childless. The only expedient I could devise towards diverting her grief, was to provide her with a playmate. Nichols, the young man whom you have seen here, was then about the age of my son, and struck the juvenile fancy of Angelina, as bearing some resemblance to her brother. I therefore solicited his friends to allow him to spend much of his time with us; he was a quiet inoffensive lad; and a mutual affection was the natural result of their childish sports: notwithstanding which, I have reason to be confirmed in my opinion, that their regard for each other never ripened into a permanent or warm attachment; nor do I think the happiness of either