choose that brother from amongst persons who are worthy of you by their
birth, and by a fortune which I have not to offer. But where will you go in
order to be happier? On what shore will you land which will be dearer to
you than the spot which gave you birth? Where will you find a society more
interesting to you than this by which you are so beloved? How will you bear
to live without your mother's caresses, to which you are so accustomed?
What will become of her, already advanced in years, when she will no longer
see you at her side at table, in the house, in the walks where she used to
lean upon you? What will become of my mother who loves you with the same
affection? What shall I say to comfort them when I see them weeping for
your absence! Cruel! I speak not to you of myself; but what will become of
me, when in the morning I shall no more see you: when the evening will come
and will not reunite us? When I shall gaze on the two palm trees, planted
at our birth, and so long the witnesses of our mutual friendship? Ah; since
a new destiny attracts you, since you seek in a country, distant from your
own, other possessions than those which were the fruits of my labour, let
me accompany you in the vessel in which you are going to embark. I will
animate your courage in the midst of those tempests at which you are so
terrified even on shore. I will lay your head on my bosom. I will warm your
heart upon my own; and in France, where you go in search of fortune and of
grandeur, I will attend you as your slave. Happy only in your happiness,
you will find me in those palaces where I shall see you cherished and
adored, at least sufficiently noble to make for you the greatest of all
sacrifices, by dying at your feet.'

"The violence of his emotion stifled his voice, and we then heard that of
Virginia, which, broken by sobs, uttered these words: 'It is for you I go:
for you, whom I see every day bent beneath the labour of sustaining two
infirm families. If I have accepted this opportunity of becoming rich, it
is only to return you a thousandfold the good which you have done us. Is