The novels of Charles Brockden Brown, consisting of Wieland;or, The transformation. Arthur Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the year 1793. Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a sleep-walker. Jane Talbot. Ormond; or, The secret witness. Clara Howard; or, The enthusiasm of love. With a memoir of the author.

JANE TALBOT. 189
Heaven to witness, is the only charge that can truly be
brought against her.
There is still another confession to make. If suffering
and penitence can atone for any offence, surely mine has
been atoned for! But it still remains that I should, as
far as my power goes, repair the mischief.
It is no adequate apology, I well know, that the consequences of my crime were more extensive and durable
than I expected; but is it not justice to myself to say that
this confession would have been made earlier if I had
earlier known the extent of the evil? I never suspected
but that the belief of his wife's infidelity was buried with
Talbot.
Alas! wicked and malignant as I was, I meant not to
persuade the mother of her child's profligacy. Why
should I have aimed at this? I had no reason to disesteem or hate you. I was always impressed with reverence for your character. In the letters sent directly to
you, I aimed at nothing but to procure your interference,
and make maternal authority declare itself against that
intercourse which was essential to your daughter's happiness. It was not you, but her, that I wished to vex and
distress.
I called at Mrs. Talbot's at a time when visitants are
least expected. Nobody saw me enter. Her parlour
was deserted; her writing-desk was open; an unfinished
letter caught my eye. A sentiment half inquisitive and
half mischievous made me snatch it up and withdraw as
abruptly as I entered.
On reading this billet, it was easy to guess for whom
it was designed. It was frank and affectionate; consistent with her conjugal duty, but not such as a very
circumspect and wary temper would have allowed itself
to write.
How shall I describe the suggestions that led me to
make a most nefarious use of this paper? Circumstances
most unhappily concurred to make my artifice easy and
plausible. I discovered that Colden had spent most of
the preceding night with your daughter. It is true a most
heavy storm had raged during the evening, and the moment it remitted (which was not till three o'clock) he was