A Foreboding Departure

CHAPTER II. When I had attained the age of seventeen, my parents resolved that I should become

a student at the university of Ingolstadt. I had hitherto attended the schools of Geneva; but my father thought

it necessary, for the completion of my education, that I should be made acquainted

with other customs than those of my native country. My departure was therefore fixed

at an early date; but, before the day resolved upon could arrive, the first misfortune

of my life occurred—an omen, as it were, of my future misery. Elizabeth had caught

the scarlet fever; but her illness was not severe, and she quickly recovered.

During her confinement, many arguments had been urged to persuade my mother to refrain from attending upon