"As redolent of youth's refreshing days,
"Fancy the wonders of her art displays,
"And o'er each object we in absence mourn'd,
"Shedding the richness of her fairy rays;
"Bids e'en the little hedge-row that we scorn'd,
"Rise in a mellow light, by some new tint adorn'd."
Local Attachment.
and she determined to seek for happiness once more within its precincts. "Often as I have been disappointed in the search," said she, "and severely as I have felt its loss, let me at least endeavour to use those blessings yet left me for the good of others: and is wealth alone the only blessing left me?" continued she, as she walked pensively up and down the avenue which led to her house. "Alas! I have now no relations whom I can share it with, no one whom I can call an intimate friend! My fortune would make many profess to be such, but I have proved the fallacy of such friendship, and know on what ground they are formed. I will seek the Campbells: if they are like their parents, they will not be parasites, for they were content with little, and thought the bread they ate the sweeter for being procured by their own industry." With these sentiments she called at the farm, within a few weeks after her arrival at Rosewood, and found Mr. and Mrs. Campbell sensible of her condescension, though not servilely so. They were both well informed, and paid her the respect which was due to her as the owner of their farm; nor were they ashamed to acknowledge her their superior, not only from her possessing more money, but from the difference the distinctions of society had made between them. She found the farmer sitting with two children on his knee, and his wife with an infant on hers, in the very place where the late Mrs. Campbell used to sit, and to whom she had often ran with the sweet things her father brought her while a child under her care. The shelves, the chairs, and oaken tables were the same as when she lived there, except that several books were added to the simple library her foster parents possessed. On entering the room quite unexpectedly, she was not at first recollected as the lady they had seen at church the Sunday before; her face was particularly expressive, but it was marked with melancholy; and her voice faltered as she apologized for her abruptness; nor could she refrain from tears on observing the extreme likeness of the farmer to his good old mother, whose features she perfectly recollected. "It is Mrs. Meridith!" said he, on seeing her advance farther into their large stone kitchen; and setting the children on their feet, who were lost in astonishment at the appearance of a stranger, he jumped up and hastened to offer her a chair. Mrs. Campbell also rose, and remarking the agitation of her countenance, imagined that something had alarmed her, and she had fled to their house for shelter.
"Will you take any thing, Ma'am?" said she, "I am sure you are very much frightened."
"No, no," replied Mrs. Meridith, "but the recollection of old times and old friends were at the moment almost too much for me; these walls and that face are no strangers to me:—do you not recollect me, Mr. Campbell?" continued she, holding out her hand to him. With a countenance expressive of pleasure, yet with the utmost respect, he took her offered hand.