You know how depressed my mind was with sorrow at the earnestness with
which my father and sister espoused the cause of Mr. Woodley. I was
ready to sink under the dejection their perseverance occasioned,
aggravated too by my tender, long-cherished attachment to the
unfortunate Baron. [This is the first time my pen has traced that word.]
I was sitting yesterday morning in an alcove in the garden, ruminating
on the various scenes which I had experienced, and giving myself up to
the most melancholy presages, when I perceived a paper fall at my feet.
I apprehended it had dropped from my pocket in taking out my
handkerchief, which a trickling tear had just before demanded. I stooped
to pick it up; and, to my surprize, found it sealed, and addressed to
myself. I hastily broke it open, and my wonder increased when I read
these words:
"I have been witness to the perturbation of your mind. How will you
atone to your Sylph, for not availing yourself of the privilege of
making application to him in an emergency? If you have lost your
confidence in him, he is the most wretched of beings. He flatters
himself he may be instrumental to your future felicity. If you are
inclined to be indebted to him for any share of it, you may have the
opportunity of seeing him in five minutes. Arm yourself with resolution,
most lovely, most adored of women; for he will appear under a semblance
not expected by you. You will see in him the most faithful and constant
of human beings."
I was seized with such a trepidation, that I could hardly support
myself; but, summoning all the strength of mind I could assume, I said
aloud, though in a tremulous voice, "Let me view my amiable Sylph!"--But
oh! what became of me, when at my feet I beheld the most wished-for, the
most dreaded, _Ton-hausen!_ I clasped my hands together, and shrieked
with the most frantic air, falling back half insensible on the seat.
"Curse on my precipitance!" he cried, throwing his arms round me. "My
angel! my Julia! look on the most forlorn of his sex, unless you pity
me." "Pity you!" I exclaimed, with a faint accent--"Oh! from whence, and
how came you here?"
"Did not my Julia expect me?" he asked, in the softest voice, and
sweetest manner.
"I expect you! How should I? alas! what intimation could I have of your
arrival?"
"From this," he replied, taking up the billet written by the Sylph.
"What do you mean? For Heaven's sake! rise, and unravel this mystery. My
brain will burst with the torture of suspence."
"If the loveliest of women will pardon the stratagems I have practised
on her unsuspecting mind, I will rise, and rise the happiest of mortals.
Yes, my beloved Julia, I am that invisible guide, that has so often led
you through the wilds of life. I am that blissful being, whom you
supposed something supernatural."
"It is impossible," I cried, interrupting him, "it cannot be!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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