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.

1Z5 ORMOND; OR,
thought it her duty to remove it by open and unaffected
manners. She therefore said, in a sedate and cheerful
tone, "You see me, madam, in a situation somewhat unlike that in which I formerly was placed. You will probably regard the change as an unhappy one; but, I
assure you, I have found it far less so than I expected.
I am thus reduced not by my own fault. It is this reflection that enables me to conform to it without a murmur. I shall rejoice to know that Mrs. Eden is as happy
as I am."
Helena was pleased with this address, and returned an
answer full of sweetness. She had not, in her compassion for the fallen, a particle of pride. She thought of
nothing but the contrast between the former situation of
her visitant and the present. The fame of her great
qualities had formerly excited veneration, and that reverence was by no means diminished by a nearer scrutiny.
The consciousness of her own frailty, meanwhile, diffused
over the behaviour of Helena a timidity and dubiousness
uncommonly fascinating. She solicited Constantia's
friendship in a manner that showed she was afraid of
nothing but denial. An assent was eagerly given, and
thenceforth a cordial intercourse was established between
them.
The real situation of Helena was easily discovered.
The officious person who communicated this information
at the same time cautioned Constantia against associating
with one of tainted reputation. This information threw
some light upon appearances. It accounted for that
melancholy which Helena was unable to conceal. It
explained that solitude in which she lived, and which
Constantia had ascribed to the death or absence of her
husband. It justified the solicitous silence she had
hitherto maintained respecting her own affairs, and which
her friend's good sense forbade her to employ any sinister
means of eluding.
No long time was necessary to make her mistress of
Helena's character. She loved her with uncommon
warmth, though by no means blind to her defects. She
formed no expectations from the knowledge of her character, to which this intelligence operated as a disap