We are bound to inquire the griefs of others; not to tell our own." This was a fair opening, but Bella was too delicate to show her wounds to a fresh acquaintance.
The Sister, having failed at that, tried something very different.
"But I could tell you a pitiful case about another.

Some time ago I nursed a gentleman whom love had laid on a sick-bed." "A gentleman! What! can they love as we do ?" said Bella, bitterly.
"Not many of them; but this was an exception.

But I don't know whether I ought to tell these secrets to so young a lady." "Oh, yes--please--what else is there in this world worth talking about?
Tell me about the poor man who could love as we can." The Sister seemed to hesitate, but at last decided to go on.
"Well, he was a man of the world, and he had not always been a good man; but he was trying to be.

He had fallen in love with a young lady, and seen the beauty of virtue, and was going to marry her and lead a good life.

But he was a man of honor, and there was a lady for whom he thought it was his duty to provide.