When she returned home, the cheerfulness of her spirits was at an end.
She looked back with remorse and self-upbraiding at her past caprices;
she turned with distaste from the adulation of her admirers, and had
no longer any relish for the amusements of the village. With
humiliation and diffidence, she sought the widowed mother of Eugene;
but was received by her with an overflowing heart; for she only beheld
in Annette one who could sympathize in her doting fondness for her
son. It seemed some alleviation of her remorse to sit by the mother
all day, to study her wants, to beguile her heavy hours, to hang about
her with the caressing endearments of a daughter, and to seek by every
means, if possible, to supply the place of the son, whom she
reproached herself with having driven away.
In the mean time, the ship made a prosperous voyage to her destined
port. Eugene's mother received a letter from him, in which he lamented
the precipitancy of his departure. The voyage had given him time for
sober reflection. If Annette had been unkind to him, he ought not to
have forgotten what was due to his mother, who was now advanced in
years. He accused himself of selfishness, in only listening to the
suggestions of his own inconsiderate passions.
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