"
"Frank Addison!" echoed I, in surprise; for this young man was one I
knew and loved well, and I could not think who in our quiet village had
sufficient attraction for his fastidious taste.
He was certainly worth marrying, though he had some faults, being as
proud as was endurable, as shy as a child, and altogether endowed with a
full appreciation, to say the least, of his own charms and merits: but
he was sincere, and loyal, and tender; well cultivated, yet not priggish
or pedantic; brave, well-bred, and high-principled; handsome besides. I
knew him thoroughly; I had held him on my lap, fed him with sugar-plums,
soothed his child-sorrows, and scolded his naughtiness, many a time; I
had stood with him by his mother's dying bed and consoled him by my own
tears, for his mother I loved dearly; so, ever since, Frank had been
both near and dear to me, for a mutual sorrow is a tie that may
bind together even a young man and an old maid in close and kindly
friendship. I was the more surprised at his engagement because I thought
he would have been the first to tell me of it; but I reflected that
Laura was his cousin, and relationship has an etiquette of precedence
above any other social link.
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