Pagina 85 di 483

"Little alteration, except the growth of our dear children, has

taken place since you left us. The blue lake and snow-clad

mountains-they never change; and I think our placid home and our

contented hearts are regulated by the same immutable laws. My

trifling occupations take up my time and amuse me, and I am

rewarded for any exertions by seeing none but happy, kind faces

around me. Since you left us, but one change has taken place in

our little household. Do you remember on what occasion Justine

Moritz entered our family? Probably you do not; I will relate her

history, therefore in a few words. Madame Moritz, her mother, was

a widow with four children, of whom Justine was the third. This

girl had always been the favourite of her father, but through a

strange perversity, her mother could not endure her, and after

the death of M. Moritz, treated her very ill. My aunt observed

this, and when Justine was twelve years of age, prevailed on her

mother to allow her to live at our house.