“Virgo seemed to enjoy the change she had produced amazingly. She walked about me with her eyes filled with pleasure, as if delighting in the contemplation of her own work; while I, scarcely able to understand the whole drift of the proceedings, looked a little bothered and mystified.
“Now if any of our people do see you,” said she, cheerfully, “I do’nt think it at all likely that they would suspect who you are.”
“Well, there was I, a wild, daring, uncontrollable youth, living locked up in the bed-room of an innocent little creature some years younger than myself. She brought me every thing that she thought likely to render my confinement more endurable, and endeavoured, by a thousand affectionate ways, to make me forget that I was deprived of my liberty. To get out of the prison, she told me, was impossible at present, as every person entering and going out underwent strict examination; but I had some idea that she said this to keep me where I was; and though I loved her as well as I was able to love, for having saved my life, the sort of existence I led was not one my spirit could long endure. I can say, most solemnly, that she remained as pure in heart and mind as it was possible for the purest to be. She allowed my caresses—she returned them—but there was such a modesty in her spotless nature, that it repelled the slightest exhibition of passion. At night she would leave the room while I undressed, and, when I was in bed, she would come and lay by my side upon the bed in her clothes, and, with her arms round my neck, and her cheek upon mine, we went to sleep. When she made her toilet, she would draw the curtains round me, kiss me, and tell me not to move; and her innocence and gentleness seemed to exert upon me such a spell, that I did’nt dare move an inch, or make the slightest attempt to watch her proceedings. Extraordinary was the care with which this guileless creature endeavoured to avoid a discovery. She watched over me as if I was her treasure, and appeared as if she knew no enjoyment but in my presence. I know not what she would have made of me in time, for I was as a child in her hands; but I began to grow restless at this imprisonment, and was seeking an opportunity to bring it to a termination. This was brought about sooner than I expected, and, in a manner, too, I did not at all anticipate.
“One day, while we were enjoying ourselves in our usual quiet manner, we heard footsteps approaching the door. She had just time to throw some work, upon which she had been employed, into my lap, and tell me to sew away as well as I could, when the door opened, and her father entered.
“‘Hullo, who’s that young woman?’ he inquired, rather surlily.
“‘Oh! it’s only a person come to help me on with some work, father,’ his daughter replied.
“‘Oh!’ he exclaimed, scrutinising my appearance very earnestly. Now, I was never any great hands at hemming and stitching: I held the needle like an oar, and pricked my fingers more than I did the stuff I was required to sew.
“‘Is she a good work-woman?’ asked the old man, approaching nearer to me, and watching my awkward labours with more attention than I desired.
“‘Capital, father!’ said my angel.