After a residence of about a year at Ulswater, Adrian visited London, and came back full of plans for our benefit. “You must begin life,” he said: “you are seventeen, and longer delay would render the necessary apprenticeship more and more irksome.” He foresaw that his own life would be one of struggle, and I must partake his labours with him. The better to fit me for this task, we must now separate. He found my name a good passport to preferment, and he had procured for me the situation of private secretary to the Ambassador at Vienna, where I should enter on my career under the best auspices. In two years, I should return to my country, with a name well known and a reputation already founded.

And Perdita?⁠—Perdita was to become the pupil, friend and younger sister of Evadne. With his usual thoughtfulness, he had provided for her independence in this situation. How refuse the offers of this generous friend?⁠—I did not wish to refuse them; but in my heart of hearts, I made a vow to devote life, knowledge, and power, all of which, in as much as they were of any value, he had bestowed on me⁠—all, all my capacities and hopes, to him alone I would devote.