Page:The Adventures of David Simple (1904).djvu/253

 that to see another uneasy was a sufficient reason for any of the same species to endeavour to know and remove the cause of it. Cynthia, on reflection, was convinced that what on some occasions would be transgressing the laws of decency, in this case would be only the effect of a generous compassion. She therefore sought all opportunities of conversing with Isabelle, till at length, by her amiable and tender behaviour, she prevailed with her to let her introduce her to David and his company. They were all surprised at the grandeur of her air and manner, and the I perfect symmetry of her features, as much as they were concerned at the dejectedness of her countenance, and the fixed melancholy which visibly appeared in everything she said or did. For several days they made it their whole business to endeavour to divert her; but (as is usually the case where grief is really and unaffectedly rooted in the heart) she sighed at everything which at another time would have given her pleasure. And the behaviour of this company seemed only to make her regret the more something she had irrecoverably lost. She begged to be left to her own private thoughts, whatever they were, rather than disturb the felicity of such minds as she easily perceived theirs to be. But David would not, nor indeed would any of the company, suffer her to leave them without informing them whether or no they could do anything to serve her. As to her saying she perceived by the tenderness of their dispositions she should only make them feel her afflictions without any possibility of relieving them, they looked on that to be the common reflection of every generous mind weighed down with present grief. At last, by their continual importunities, and the uneasiness she was convinced she gave to people who so much deserved her esteem, she resolved, whatever pain