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1"If this is your present temper, my friend, you will perhaps be glad to see a letter that has been lying here some days
2for you; it is from your cousin, I believe." Chapter 6 Clerval then put the following letter into my hands. It was from
3my own Elizabeth: "My dearest Cousin, "You have been ill, very ill, and even the constant letters of dear kind Henry are
4not sufficient to reassure me on your account. You are forbidden to write--to hold a pen; yet one word from you, dear
5Victor, is necessary to calm our apprehensions. For a long time I have thought that each post would bring this line, and
6my persuasions have restrained my uncle from undertaking a journey to Ingolstadt. I have prevented his encountering the
7inconveniences and perhaps dangers of so long a journey, yet how often have I regretted not being able to perform it
8myself! I figure to myself that the task of attending on your sickbed has devolved on some mercenary old nurse, who
9could never guess your wishes nor minister to them with the care and affection of your poor cousin. Yet that is over
10now: Clerval writes that indeed you are getting better. I eagerly hope that you will confirm this intelligence soon in
11your own handwriting. "Get well--and return to us. You will find a happy, cheerful home and friends who love you dearly.
12Your father's health is vigorous, and he asks but to see you, but to be assured that you are well; and not a care will
13ever cloud his benevolent countenance. How pleased you would be to remark the improvement of our Ernest! He is now
14sixteen and full of activity and spirit. He is desirous to be a true Swiss and to enter into foreign service, but we
15cannot part with him, at least until his elder brother returns to us. My uncle is not pleased with the idea of a
16military career in a distant country, but Ernest never had your powers of application. He looks upon study as an odious
17fetter; his time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the lake. I fear that he will become an idler
18unless we yield the point and permit him to enter on the profession which he has selected. "Little alteration, except
19the growth of our dear children, has taken place since you left us. The blue lake and snow-clad mountains--they never
20change; and I think our placid home and our contented hearts are regulated by the same immutable laws. My trifling
21occupations take up my time and amuse me, and I am rewarded for any exertions by seeing none but happy, kind faces
22around me. Since you left us, but one change has taken place in our little household. Do you remember on what occasion
23Justine Moritz entered our family? Probably you do not; I will relate her history, therefore in a few words. Madame
24Moritz, her mother, was a widow with four children, of whom Justine was the third. This girl had always been the
25favourite of her father, but through a strange perversity, her mother could not endure her, and after the death of M.
26Moritz, treated her very ill. My aunt observed this, and when Justine was twelve years of age, prevailed on her mother
27to allow her to live at our house. The republican institutions of our country have produced simpler and happier manners
28than those which prevail in the great monarchies that surround it. Hence there is less distinction between the several
29classes of its inhabitants; and the lower orders, being neither so poor nor so despised, their manners are more refined
30and moral. A servant in Geneva does not mean the same thing as a servant in France and England. Justine, thus received
31in our family, learned the duties of a servant, a condition which, in our fortunate country, does not include the idea
32of ignorance and a sacrifice of the dignity of a human being. "Justine, you may remember, was a great favourite of
33yours; and I recollect you once remarked that if you were in an ill humour, one glance from Justine could dissipate it,
34for the same reason that Ariosto gives concerning the beauty of Angelica--she looked so frank-hearted and happy. My aunt
35conceived a great attachment for her, by which she was induced to give her an education superior to that which she had
36at first intended. This benefit was fully repaid; Justine was the most grateful little creature in the world: I do not
37mean that she made any professions I never heard one pass her lips, but you could see by her eyes that she almost adored
38her protectress. Although her disposition was gay and in many respects inconsiderate, yet she paid the greatest
39attention to every gesture of my aunt. She thought her the model of all excellence and endeavoured to imitate her
40phraseology and manners, so that even now she often reminds me of her. "When my dearest aunt died every one was too much
41occupied in their own grief to notice poor Justine, who had attended her during her illness with the most anxious
42affection. Poor Justine was very ill; but other trials were reserved for her. "One by one, her brothers and sister died;
43and her mother, with the exception of her neglected daughter, was left childless. The conscience of the woman was
44troubled; she began to think that the deaths of her favourites was a judgement from heaven to chastise her partiality.
45She was a Roman Catholic; and I believe her confessor confirmed the idea which she had conceived. Accordingly, a few
46months after your departure for Ingolstadt, Justine was called home by her repentant mother. Poor girl! She wept when
47she quitted our house; she was much altered since the death of my aunt; grief had given softness and a winning mildness
48to her manners, which had before been remarkable for vivacity. Nor was her residence at her mother's house of a nature
49to restore her gaiety. The poor woman was very vacillating in her repentance. She sometimes begged Justine to forgive
50her unkindness, but much oftener accused her of having caused the deaths of her brothers and sister. Perpetual fretting
51at length threw Madame Moritz into a decline, which at first increased her irritability, but she is now at peace for
52ever. She died on the first approach of cold weather, at the beginning of this last winter. Justine has just returned to
53us; and I assure you I love her tenderly. She is very clever and gentle, and extremely pretty; as I mentioned before,
54her mien and her expression continually remind me of my dear aunt. "I must say also a few words to you, my dear cousin,
55of little darling William. I wish you could see him; he is very tall of his age, with sweet laughing blue eyes, dark
56eyelashes, and curling hair. When he smiles, two little dimples appear on each cheek, which are rosy with health. He has
57already had one or two little wives, but Louisa Biron is his favourite, a pretty little girl of five years of age. "Now,
58dear Victor, I dare say you wish to be indulged in a little gossip concerning the good people of Geneva. The pretty Miss
59Mansfield has already received the congratulatory visits on her approaching marriage with a young Englishman, John
60Melbourne, Esq. Her ugly sister, Manon, married M. Duvillard, the rich banker, last autumn. Your favourite schoolfellow,
61Louis Manoir, has suffered several misfortunes since the departure of Clerval from Geneva. But he has already recovered
62his spirits, and is reported to be on the point of marrying a lively pretty Frenchwoman, Madame Tavernier. She is a
63widow, and much older than Manoir; but she is very much admired, and a favourite with everybody. "I have written myself
64into better spirits, dear cousin; but my anxiety returns upon me as I conclude. Write, dearest Victor,--one line--one
65word will be a blessing to us. Ten thousand thanks to Henry for his kindness, his affection, and his many letters; we
66are sincerely grateful. Adieu! my cousin; take care of yourself; and, I entreat you, write! "Elizabeth Lavenza. "Geneva,
67March 18th, 17--." "Dear, dear Elizabeth!" I exclaimed, when I had read her letter: "I will write instantly and relieve
68them from the anxiety they must feel." I wrote, and this exertion greatly fatigued me; but my convalescence had
69commenced, and proceeded regularly. In another fortnight I was able to leave my chamber.
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