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.

THE SECRET WITNESS.

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pointment. It merely excited her pity, and made her
thoughtful how she might assist her in repairing this
deplorable error.
This design was of no ordinary magnitude. She saw
that it was previously necessary to obtain the confidence
of Helena. This was a task of easy performance. She
knew the purity of her own motives and the extent of
her powers, and embarked in this undertaking with full
confidence of success. She had only to profit by a private interview, to acquaint her friend with what she
knew, to solicit a complete and satisfactory disclosure, to
explain the impressions which her intelligence produced,
and to offer her disinterested advice. No one knew better how to couch her ideas in words suitable to the end
proposed by her in imparting them.
Helena was at first terrified; but the benevolence of
her friend quickly entitled her to confidence and gratitude that knew no limits. She had been deterred from
unveiling her heart by the fear of exciting contempt or
abhorrence; but when she found that all due allowances
were made,-that her conduct was treated as erroneous
in no atrocious or inexpiable degree, and as far from
being insusceptible of remedy,-that the obloquy with
which she had been treated found no vindicator or participator in her friend,-her heart was considerably relieved. She had been long a stranger to the sympathy
and intercourse of her own sex. Now this good, in its
most precious form, was conferred upon her, and she
experienced an increase rather than diminution of tenderness, in consequence of her true situation being
known.
She made no secret of any part of her history. She
did full justice to the integrity of her lover, and explained the unforced conditions on which she had consented to live with him. This relation exhibited the
character of Ormond in a very uncommon light. His
asperities wounded, and his sternness chilled. What
unauthorized conceptions of matrimonial and political
equality did he entertain! He had fashioned his treatment of Helena on sullen and ferocious principles. Yet
he was able, it seemed, to mould her, by means of them,