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"When my dearest aunt died every one was too much occupied in

their own grief to notice poor Justine, who had attended her

during her illness with the most anxious affection. Poor Justine

was very ill; but other trials were reserved for her.

"One by one, her brothers and sister died; and her mother, with

the exception of her neglected daughter, was left childless. The

conscience of the woman was troubled; she began to think that the

deaths of her favourites was a judgement from heaven to chastise

her partiality. She was a Roman Catholic; and I believe her

confessor confirmed the idea which she had conceived.

Accordingly, a few months after your departure for Ingolstadt,

Justine was called home by her repentant mother. Poor girl! She

wept when she quitted our house; she was much altered since the

death of my aunt; grief had given softness and a winning mildness

to her manners, which had before been remarkable for vivacity.

Nor was her residence at her mother's house of a nature to

restore her gaiety. The poor woman was very vacillating in her

repentance. She sometimes begged Justine to forgive her

unkindness, but much oftener accused her of having caused the

deaths of her brothers and sister.