13

(10)
But before that period arrived, he recieved a letter telling him
that Julia was married to another.--

Ten years had now elapsed, since he had left her a blooming
& lovely girl; he now found her one of the most captivating of women.

Soon after marriage, her father & mother had died & she became heiress
to a large fortune. Her husband some years afterwars received an appointment
under government, & their residence was consequently transferred
to Washington; he had not resided there long before he was sent on
a mission to Europe, where they remained several years.

Julia, had returned, & brought with her the polish
& fashion of foreign courts, in addition to her native loveliness.
But she had there lost a taste for that domestic happiness, she had previously
enjoyed--Married to the man of her choice, with all the gifts
of nature & fortune, all the virtues of innate benevolence, cultivated
by the best of parents--She had been one of the happiest
as well as loveliest of women.--[deleted text]
In Julia's disposition there was such a fund of gaiety
& sportiveness, in her manners such artlessness & youthful complicity, in
her appearance such a freshness & unfaded bloom, every one felt
persuaded that neither many years, or many cares had passed
their wethering influence over her existence. Like the glossy plumage
of a bird, which the rain drop cannot penetrate. Her bright exterior
seemed impervious to sorrow. If sometimes that brightness was
dimmed by a tear, that tear was as quickly evaporated, as the dewdrop
from the rose. Not that she was devoid of sensibility, no,--
she felt more keenly--more poignantly; but there was an elasticity
in her nature that resisted permanent impressions; or rather the
traces of sadness on her ductile mind. were as easily made
but as quickly effaced by the passing hour, as those on the sand, are, by
the washing of the waves.