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.

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ORMOND; OR,

he was not conscious, the seeds of this disease. They
might perhaps have lain dormant, had not this panic
occurred to endow them with activity.
CHAPTER VIII.
SucH were the facts circumstantially communicated by
Sarah. They afforded to Constantia a theme of ardent
meditation. The similitude between her own destiny
and that of this unhappy exile could not fail to be observed. Immersed in poverty, friendless, burdened with
the maintenance and nurture of her father, their circumstances were nearly parallel. The catastrophe of her
tale was the subject of endless but unsatisfactory conjecture.
She had disappeared between the flight of Baxter and
the dawn of day. What path had she taken? Was she
now alive? Was she still an inhabitant of this city?
Perhaps there was a coincidence of taste as well as fortunes between them. The only friend that Constantia
ever enjoyed, congenial with her in principles, sex, and
age, was at a distance that forbade communication. She
imagined that Ursula Monrose would prove worthy of
her love, and felt unspeakable regret at the improbability
of their ever meeting.
Meanwhile, the dominion of cold began to be felt, and
the contagious fever entirely disappeared. The return
of health was hailed with rapture by all ranks of people.
The streets were once more busy and frequented. The
sensation of present security seemed to shut out from all
hearts the memory of recent disasters. Public entertainments were thronged with auditors. A new theatre
had lately been constructed, and a company of English
comedians had arrived during the prevalence of the
malady. They now began their exhibitions, and their
audiences were overflowing.
Such is the motley and ambiguous condition of human
society, such is the complexity of all effects, from what