which brought the eloquent blood into the lovely girl’s cheeks. Her mother scolded, made many unpleasant remarks, and expressed her dislike of him in no very guarded terms. She declared that such impertinence would injure her daughter’s reputation, and spite of her vow to keep silence, she never dropped the subject during the whole of that day. Young Mr. Frank, however, had taken his leave of the good city of Bremen, and the most lovely eyes might now wander in search of him in vain.
Mela went to church, and heard her lover’s prayer repeated very often; and, in truth, it was intended rather for her ears than to mount to Heaven. Yet she paid little attention to it, such was her grief for the disappearance of her lover. The very words that would have explained it, escaped her ear, and she was at a loss what to think of it. In the course of a month or two, when her sorrow was a little abated, and his absence grew less trying, she had been listening to the sermon, and, for the first time, paying attention to the prayer, and comparing it with other circumstances, she suddenly guessed its meaning, wondering at her own stupidity in not sooner discovering it, and at the same time praising her lover’s ingenious notion. True it is, that such prayers bear no great reputation for their efficacy, and are poor support for those who put their faith in them. In general, the warmth of piety is exhausted
