The power of sympathy: or, The triumph of nature. Founded in truth.

Chapter 38: LETTER XXXV.

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About This Book

An epistolary novel recounts a series of letters that expose a courtship and a concealed seduction whose revelation brings shame, illness, and familial ruin, used to dramatize the moral dangers of reckless passion. Through careful narration and moral commentary, the correspondence traces how social conventions, personal weakness, and misplaced sympathy produce personal and domestic catastrophe while urging prudence, female self-respect, and the restorative force of nature and truth. Written in a sentimental, didactic mode, the work blends realistic social observation with moral exhortation and is structured to instruct readers about the consequences of seduction and the virtues of restraint.

LETTER XXXV.

Myra to Mrs. Holmes.

Boston.

YOUR letter is filled with such ambiguous expressions that I am utterly at a loss to discover your meaning.

I HAVE, however, sounded him on the article of marriage, and the result is—he loves Harriot most passionately—and on account of my father’s aversion to early marriage, will marry her privately in a few days.

THE oftener I read your letter, the more I am perplexed and astonished: “You have a tale to unfold”—For Heaven’s sake then unfold it, before it be too late—and as you dread the consequence of keeping it secret, by disclosing it to me, you will prevent the mischief, you so much deprecate—I am all impatience.

Adieu!