Louisa!--Blame me if thou wilt--But I kissed him!--The chastity of my thoughts defied misconstruction, and the purity of the will sanctified the extravagance of the act. A daring enthusiasm seized me. I beheld his passions struggling to attain the very pinnacle of excellence. I wished to confirm the noble emulation, to convince him how different the pure love of mind might be from the meaner love of passion, and I kissed him! I find my affections, my sensibilities, peculiarly liable to these strong sallies. Perhaps all minds of a certain texture are subject to such rapid and almost resistless emotions; and whether they ought to be encouraged or counteracted I have not yet discovered. But the circumstance, unexpected and strange as it was, suffered no wrong interpretation in the dignified soul of Frank. With all the ardour of affection, but chastened by every token of delicacy, he clasped me in his arms, returned my kiss, then sunk down on one knee, and exclaimed--Now let me die!-- After a moment's pause, I answered--No, Frank! Live! Live to be a blessing to the world, and an honour to the human race! I took a turn to the window, and after having calmed the too much of feeling which I had suffered to grow upon me, I continued the conversation. I hope, Frank, we now understand each other; and that, as this is the first, so it will be the last contention of the passions in which we shall indulge ourselves. Madam, though _I still think, nay feel a certainty of conviction, that you act from mistaken principles_, yet you support what you are persuaded is truth with such high such self-denying virtue, that not to applaud, not to imitate you would be contemptible. You have and ought to have a will of your own. You practise what you believe to be the severest precepts of duty, with more than human fortitude. You resolve, in this particular, not to offend the prejudices of your family, and the world. I submit. To indulge sensibility but a little were to be heart-broken! But no personal grief can authorise me in deserting the post I am placed in; nor palliate the crime of neglecting its duties. _To the end of time I shall persist in thinking you mine by right_; but I will never trouble you more with an assertion of that right--Never!--Unless some new and unexpected claim should spring up, of which I see no probability. He bowed and was retiring. Stay, Frank, I have something more to say to you--I have a requisition to make which after what has passed would to common minds appear unfeeling and almost capricious cruelty; but I have no fear that yours should be liable to this mistake. Recollect but who and what you are, remember what are the best purposes of existence, and the noblest efforts of mind, and then refuse me if you can--I have formed a project, and call upon you for aid--Cannot you guess? Mr. Clifton, madam--? Yes.