["And now I must tell you a story that will please, and
perhaps amuse you. Do you not remember Justine Moritz?]
<"Little alteration, except the growth of our dear
children, has taken place since you left us. The blue lake, and
snow-clad mountains, they never change; -- and I think our placid
home, and our contented hearts are regulated by the same
immutable laws. My trifling occupations take up my time and
amuse me, and I am rewarded for any exertions by seeing none but
happy, kind faces around me. Since you left us, but one change
has taken place in our little household. Do you remember on
what occasion Justine Moritz entered our family?>
Probably you do not; I will relate her history, therefore, in a
few words. Madame Moritz, her mother, was a widow with four
children, of whom Justine was the third. This girl had always
been the favourite of her father; but, through a strange
perversity, her mother could not endure her, and, after the
death of M. Moritz, treated her very ill. My aunt observed this;
and, when Justine was twelve years of age, prevailed on her
mother to allow her to live at {MS our}
[her] <our> house. The republican
institutions of our country have produced simpler and happier
manners than those which prevail in the great monarchies that
surround it. Hence there is less distinction between the
several classes of its inhabitants; and the lower orders being
neither so poor nor so despised, their manners are more refined
and moral. A servant in Geneva does not mean the same thing as
a servant in France and England. Justine, thus received in our
family, learned the duties of a servant; a condition which, in
our fortunate country, does not include the idea of ignorance,
and a sacrifice of the dignity of a human being.
"[After what I have said, I dare say you well remember the
heroine of my little tale: for Justine] <Justine, you
may remember,> was a great favourite of [your's]
<yours>; and I recollect you once remarked, that
if you were in an ill humour, one glance from Justine could
dissipate it, for the same reason that Ariosto gives concerning
the beauty of Angelica -- she looked so frank-hearted and happy. My
aunt conceived a great attachment for her, by which she was
induced to give her an education superior to that which she had
at first intended. This benefit was fully repaid; Justine was
the most grateful little creature in the world: I do not mean
that she made any professions, I never heard one pass her lips;
but you could see by her eyes that she almost adored her
protectress. Although her disposition was gay, and in many
respects inconsiderate, yet she paid the greatest attention to
every gesture of my aunt. She thought her the model of all
excellence, and endeavoured to imitate her phraseology and
manners, so that even now she often reminds me of her.