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home, to the selected abode of goodness and love; to peace, and the
interchange of every sacred sympathy. Had I never quitted Windsor, these
emotions would not have been so intense; but I had in Greece been the prey
of fear and deplorable change; in Greece, after a period of anxiety and
sorrow, I had seen depart two, whose very names were the symbol of
greatness and virtue. But such miseries could never intrude upon the
domestic circle left to me, while, secluded in our beloved forest, we
passed our lives in tranquillity. Some small change indeed the progress of
years brought here; and time, as it is wont, stamped the traces of
mortality on our pleasures and expectations. Idris, the most affectionate
wife, sister and friend, was a tender and loving mother. The feeling was
not with her as with many, a pastime; it was a passion. We had had three
children; one, the second in age, died while I was in Greece. This had
dashed the triumphant and rapturous emotions of maternity with grief and
fear. Before this event, the little beings, sprung from herself, the young
heirs of her transient life, seemed to have a sure lease of existence; now
she dreaded that the pitiless destroyer might snatch her remaining
darlings, as it had snatched their brother. The least illness caused throes
of terror; she was miserable if she were at all absent from them; her
treasure of happiness she had garnered in their fragile being, and kept
forever on the watch, lest the insidious thief should as before steal these
valued gems. She had fortunately small cause for fear. Alfred, now nine
years old, was an upright, manly little fellow, with radiant brow, soft
eyes, and gentle, though independent disposition. Our youngest was yet in
infancy; but his downy cheek was sprinkled with the roses of health, and
his unwearied vivacity filled our halls with innocent laughter.
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