SURPASS YOUR CHARMS. 
285 
Nordbourg, a young lady possessing all the 
charms requisite for the heroine of a modern 
novel, excepting that she delighted in excit¬ 
ing jealousy in the breast of her intended lord. 
As she was the only child of a widowed mo¬ 
ther, a female cousin, possessing but little 
personal beauty, and still less fortune, had 
been brought up with her from infancy as a 
companion, and as a stimulus to her educa¬ 
tion. The humble and amiable Charlotte was 
too insignificant to attract much attention in 
the circles in which her gay cousin shone 
with so much splendour, which gave her fre¬ 
quent opportunities of imparting a portion of 
that instruction she had received to the more 
humble class of her own sex. Returning 
from one of these charitable visits, and en¬ 
tering the gay saloon of her aunt, where her 
exit or entrance was scarcely noticed, she 
found the party amusing themselves in se¬ 
lecting flowers, whilst the Count and the 
other beaux were to make verses on the 
choice of each of the ladies. Charlotte was 
requested to make her selection of a flower; 
the sprightly Amelia had taken a rose, others 
a carnation, a lily, or the flowers most likely 
to call forth a compliment; and the delicate 
idea of Charlotte, in selecting the most hum¬ 
ble flower, by placing a sprig of mignonette 
in her bosom, would probably have passed 
unnoticed, had not the flirtation of her cousin 
