Page:Records of the Life of the Rev. John Murray.djvu/94

84 for that was her fascinating name, arose to take leave; I was greatly chagrined, I had calculated upon attending her home; but a confidential friend had been sent to take charge of her. I ventured, however, to express a hope, that I should see her at Mrs. Allen's, a friend, warmly attached to us both, on the following Wednesday evening. She modestly replied, she would endeavour to be there; and in the interim, I sought to learn if she were disengaged, but I could obtain no satisfactory information. The appointed evening was passed most delightfully, at Mrs. Allen's; I had the felicity of attending the young lady home, and the temerity to ask such questions, as extorted an acknowledgment, that she was not engaged. With trembling eagerness, I then ventured to propose myself as a candidate for her favour. "Alas! sir," she replied, "you have formed too high an opinion of my character; I trust you will meet a person much more deserving of you, than I can pretend to be." I re-urged my suit, with all the fervour, which youth, and an irrepressible passion could furnish. Her answer is indelibly engraved upon the tablets of my memory. "You, and I, sir, profess to believe in an over-ruling Providence, we have both access to the throne of our heavenly Father. Let us, sir, unbosom ourselves to our God; I shall, I do assure you; so I am persuaded will you; and if, after we have thus done, we obtain the sanction of the Most High, I trust I shall be resigned." We had now reached her habitation, the threshold of which, no professed follower of Whitefield was ever allowed to pass. I supplicated for permission to write to her, and, in the full confidence of Christian amity, she acceded to the prayer of my petition. From this period, no week passed, during which we did not exchange letters, and the pages, we filled, might have been submitted to the most rigid inspection. Mrs. Allen was our confidant, and every letter, which passed between us, was put into the hand of this discreet matron, without a seal. At the house of this lady we had frequent interviews, but never without witnesses, and our time was passed in singing hymns, and in devout prayer. I now believed myself the happiest being in creation; I was certain of possessing a most inestimable treasure; and although the grandfather of my Eliza, upon whom rested her whole dependence, never saw me; and, if he had, never would have sanctioned our union, we cherished that hope, which so generally proves fallacious. The dear girl requested me to seek, and obtain the explicit approbation of her brother, that she might at least insure his countenance; and upon my application to him, he unhesitatingly replied: "I consider, dear sir, my sister as highly honoured