Doctor, 'soon supplied Mr. Flint's absence by admitting the visits of _a new lover_. He was more experienced in the wiles of the sex, of her class at least; and, being an independent man, of considerable fortune, she was prevailed upon to quit her mother, and to place herself under his protection at his seat near Dublin, without the name of a wife. I am told that Montrose, her _first lover_, shares with her in the generosity of her gallant; and that he is in Dublin, and supported by this unhappy girl. Mrs. Sinclair has left Edinburgh. Mrs. Montrose did not, at her death, leave sufficient to pay her debts. No wonder: her daughter is somewhere in service: I hope it is an honest one. When your nephew learns these particulars he will be convinced of the danger he has escaped, for he wants not understanding; nor will his gratitude fail in the acknowledgments due to those who, from their interest in his welfare, have providentially saved him from pain.''This letter,' added Lindsey, 'finished with latin, and cautions Mr. Flamall not to forget that the assumed mask of _a Miss Sinclair_, and the designing friendship of _a Montrose_, had been the destruction of men much more experienced in life than his nephew, &c.--Philip's state of mind, on perusing this letter, was such as I shall not attempt to describe. In the confusion and tumult of his thoughts he crushed it in his hand, and putting it into his bosom he left Flamall's house. He wrote to me: no answer was returned. He then wrote to a young man for general information, respecting his old friends, _the Montroses_ and _Miss Sinclair_. To this letter he had a reply. It was such as confirmed, in part, his tutor's intelligence; for the death of Mrs. Montrose had broken up her little family, and the writer knew not where her son and daughter were. 'Mrs. Sinclair and her pretty daughter had left Edinburgh.' In the interim I reached this place with my wife; and my friend, on whom I relied for my present establishment, placed us in the house of our countryman, Mr. Dalrymple, till all was ready for our final settlement at his plantation. You may judge that my Fanny had formed her designs in favour of her injured friend, and she was not long without information in regard to Mr. Flint's situation and favour with his rich brother Oliver. She listened to his praises, and the Dalrymples were not sparing of them. His conduct in his visits to the Cowleys and their mother; his friendship to themselves, entered into these details; and, finally, the disappointment of certain young ladies who were said to be in love with the handsome stranger, who was soon to return to England to marry the great heiress, Miss Cowley. You will imagine the interview my wife so ardently desired was not long delayed; and without entering into her reproaches or Philip's distress, I will finish my narrative by telling you, that Doctor Macleod's friendly epistle and fatherly advise, was dated _just six months after his death_.