I prepared instantly to attend him, the Count equally desirous with myself to see our mutual friend. We were not long before we arrived at his house, and beheld him upraised in his bed, struggling for breath, and so amazingly changed in the course of a week's illness, that I was more shocked than ever I had been in my whole life. He ordered the servant to withdraw, and then with extreme difficulty, agonized by the spasms in his side, he addressed us in these words:—"I believe my days, I may say hours of existence, now draw towards a period. I have little to regret but my neglect of duties, which, however, I hope I have not violated, and trust in a merciful God to pardon all my omissions.
"My dear children, you are now happy in each other; let me entreat you to attend to the duties of your situations, and you will continue so. Count, remember I joined you to my dear charge; her happiness, her honour, are a deposit in your hands, which you are accountable for to the Supreme Being,
