Alonzo and Melissa were equally surprised at so unexpected a meeting. They could scarcely credit their own senses.--How he had discovered her solitude--what led him to that lonely place--how he had got over the wall--were queries which first arose in her mind. He likewise could not conceive by what miracle he should find her in a remote, desolate building, which he had supposed to be uninhabited. With rapture he took her trembling hand; tears of joy choaked their utterance. "You are wet, Alonzo, said Melissa at length; we will go up to my chamber; I have a fire there, where you can dry your clothes."--"Your chamber; replied Alonzo; who then inhabits this house?" "No one except myself, she answered; I am here alone, Alonzo." "Alone! he exclaimed--here alone, Melissa! Good God! tell me how--why--by what means are you here alone?" "Let us go up to my chamber, she replied, and I will tell you all." He followed her to her apartment and seated himself by the fire. "You want refreshment," said Melissa--which was indeed the case, as he had been long without any, and was wet, hungry and weary. She immediately set about preparing tea and soon had it ready, and a comfortable repast was spread for his entertainment.--And now, reader, if thou art a child of nature, if thy bosom is susceptible of refined sensibility, contemplate for a moment, Melissa and Alonzo seated at the same table, a table prepared by her own hand, in a lonely mansion, separated from society, and no one to interrupt them. After innumerable difficulties, troubles and perplexities; after vexing embarrassments, and a cruel separation, they were once more together, and for some time every other consideration was lost. The violence of the storm had not abated. The lightning still blazed, the thunder bellowed, the wind roared, the sea raged, the rain poured, mingled with heavy hail: Alonzo and Melissa heard a little of it. She told him all that had happened to her since they parted, except the strange noises and awful sights which had terrified her during her confinement in that solitary building: this she considered unnecessary and untimely, in her present situation.