Pagina 452 de 483

"I thank you, Walton," he said, "for your kind intentions towards

so miserable a wretch; but when you speak of new ties and fresh

affections, think you that any can replace those who are gone?

Can any man be to me as Clerval was, or any woman another

Elizabeth? Even where the affections are not strongly moved by

any superior excellence, the companions of our childhood always

possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later

friend can obtain. They know our infantine dispositions, which,

however they may be afterwards modified, are never eradicated;

and they can judge of our actions with more certain conclusions

as to the integrity of our motives. A sister or a brother can

never, unless indeed such symptoms have been shown early, suspect

the other of fraud or false dealing, when another friend, however

strongly he may be attached, may, in spite of himself, be

contemplated with suspicion.