Rosa Blondelle

Her form had all the softness of her sex,
Her face had all the sweetness of the devil
When he put on the cherub to perplex
Eve, and to pave, Heaven knows how, the road to evil.--BYRON.

She had been the penniless orphan daughter of a noble, but impoverished
Scotch family. She had been left, by the death of her parents, dependent
upon harsh and cruel relatives. She had been given in marriage, at the
age of fifteen, to a wealthy old gentleman, whose years quadrupled hers.
But he had used her very kindly, and she had performed her simple duty
of love and obedience as well as she knew how to do it. After two years
of tranquil domestic happiness, the old man died, leaving her a young
widow seventeen years of age, sole guardian to their infant son, between
whom and herself he had divided his whole estate.

After the death of her old husband, the youthful widow lived in strict
seclusion for nearly two years, devoting herself exclusively to the care
of her child.

But in the third year the health of the little Cromartie required a
change, and his mother, by her physician's advice, took the boy to
Scarborough. That fashionable watering place was then at the height of
its season, and filled with visitors.

Thus it was impossible but that the wealthy young widow should attract
much attention. She was inevitably drawn into the maelstrom of society,
into which she rushed with all the impetuosity of a novice or an
inexperienced recluse, to which all the scenes of the gay world were as
delightful as they were novel.