OR, THE HISTORY OF MAGDALENE AND BASIL ST. PIERRE. BY SELINA BUNBURY, AUTHOR OF "LIFE IN SWEDEN," &c. &c. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. ΤΟ THE RIGHT HONOURABLE COLONEL AND LADY LOUISA TIGHE This Work WITH SENTIMENTS OF RESPECT AND GRATITUDE IS INSCRIBED. OUR OWN STORY. CHAPTER I. THERE is, I suppose, in all minds, some memory of the first sense of existence; of a moment beyond which there is no knowledge whatever of oneself, and even after which there is perhaps another blank in memory. In my own case that first sense of existence reaches to a date so early in life, that the memory comes only as a streak of light, revealing a picture in a dark place which the next instant conceals. That momentary glimpse shews me a little child sitting somewhere on a stone step, with a white frock turned over her head to screen it from the sun, and her lap is full of wild flowers. VOL. I. B |