THE RELATION THAT TOOK A LIKING TO ME. 



I sighed to go home again, but the old lady held me as a child does 

 its lump-sugar ; nor was it until a couple of months after my limited 

 time, that I obtained my release, and even then, only on an especial 

 promise that I would return as soon as possible. I was tempted to say 

 any thing to obtain my ransom, although in my heart I felt it never 

 would be possible, as long as earth stood, to keep my word. Remem- 

 ber these were all the remarks and resolutions of youth flippant and 

 foolish enough. But the human heart and feelings, and the most 

 stern resolves, are not to be depended on. A few years past away, 

 and things underwent a change. As we grow out of youth into man- 

 hood, the world becomes another place, we look at it in another light, 

 and with different feelings. So it was with me and my aunt Judith ; 

 she seemed to change along with the rest ; and, for the first time, I 

 no longer saw her as my tormenter, but a nice, quiet, genteel, peace- 

 able old lady; a person who I ever admire one not given, even on the 

 most pressing occasion, to listening. I knew she had no ear for either 

 a keyhole or a door a-jar, and therefore I held her company in a house 

 very tolerable. My aunt was indeed as deaf as a pancake ; and that, 

 to a nephew just getting into those years when a young gentleman 

 begins to talk what no old woman should overhear, was no ordinary 

 blessing. I hate people who listen to private conversation, and espe- 

 cially when I am in such delicate company as requires pretty things 

 to be said; because folks are apt to imagine all pretty sayings to be 

 nonsense, if not whispered immediately to themselves. 



During the few years of my absence there had been an addition to 

 my aunt's household, by the return from school of her daughter 

 Julia ; her mother's own in every thing, save deafness, and plainness, 

 and other qualities common to an aged, but disagreeable in a young, 

 lady. My sister, who returned home at the same time, and from the 

 same school, gave me a most enticing description of my cousin Julia. 

 I have a liking to cousins, when they are pretty and simple, and 

 redolent of that hoyden modesty so observable in country-bred 

 damsels. 



So do you know, I took it into my head to go down and see my 

 aunt. I said no more about my cousin than if she had not been there. 

 However that I might not take, nor be taken by surprize for I hate 

 to catch an otherwise pretty young lady with her hair in paper, 

 and a morning splash print dress on I sent a note, letting the old 

 lady know at what time I should pay my respects to her ; but having 

 previously known her taciturnity, and the way she had of reading a 

 letter to herself, and then doubling it up, and thrusting it to the 

 lowest deep of her unfathomable wallet, among a chaos of pincushions, 

 papers, keys, cough lozenges, and, mayhap, a cake or two of Grantham 

 gingerbread, I took care to write my note in a hand beyond the reach 

 of her glasses, so that anyhow she would be under the necessity of 

 submitting it for interpretation to her daughter Julia. 



This contrivance ensured, not only that my pretty cousin would, to 

 a certainty, be informed of my intended visit, but also that the par- 

 ticular period of its fulfilment should not be overlooked ; for a damsel 

 does not easily forget such visitors, whereas, if the matter had been 

 left to my aunt alone, it might have stood a good chance of being for- 



