When the first burst of maternal tenderness was over, I besought her to declare, by what means she had been united to a man whose principles seemed so totally discordant with her own. She bent her eyes downwards, and wiped a few tears from her cheek.

“Gentlemen,” said she after a silence of some minutes, “I would request a favour of you: you have a right to know on whom you confer an obligation. I will not therefore stifle a confession which covers me with shame; but permit me to comprise it in as few words as possible.