Page:Honest debtor, or, The virtuous man struggling with, rising superior to, and overcoming misfortune (1).pdf/23

( 23 ) ict to undergo. The worthy Odelman, my refuge, my firſt benefactor, had depended upon me for the eaſe and comfort or is old age. He is a widower; has no hildren, and without declaring it, he had lready adopted me in his heart. When we ere obliged to part; when, in revealing him my paſt misfortunes, I told him by hat a prodigy of goodneſs I had been re- ored to honour, he bitterly complained of my reſerve, and aſked me if I thought I had better friend in the world than Odelman. de preſſed me to conſent to his acquitting the obligation lowed you. He requeſted with tears, and I quickly began to feel my- lf no longer able to reſiſt his entreaties. But when he read the letter in which Mr. Watelet had made the eulogium of the amia- e Juſtina, and in which he had given a ill more enchanting portrait of her mind an of her perſon-Ah!” ſaid that good an to me, “I have no daughter to offer ou; and if this picture be a faithful one, it Fill be a difficult matter to find her equal. will detain you no longer. Go, be happy -think of me, and do not ceaſe to love me."

'Nervin, as he liſtened to this narrative, was wrapt in thoughtful attention. "No," aid he, ſuddenly breaking ſilence," I will ot deſire you to be ungrateful, nor will I affer a Dutchman to boaſt that he is more enerous than I. You have no profeſſion ere, and you are not formed to lead an in-