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When my father returned from Milan , he found playing with me in the hall of our villa a child fairer than pictured cherub — a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills . The apparition was soon explained . With his permission my mother prevailed on her rustic guardians to yield their charge to her . They were fond of the sweet orphan . Her presence had seemed a blessing to them , but it would be unfair to her to keep her in poverty and want when Providence afforded her such powerful protection . They consulted their village priest , and the result was that Elizabeth Lavenza became the inmate of my parents ’ house — my more than sister — the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures . Everyone loved Elizabeth . The passionate and almost reverential attachment with which all regarded her became , while I shared it , my pride and my delight . On the evening previous to her being brought to my home , my mother had said playfully , “ I have a pretty present for my Victor — tomorrow he shall have it . ” And when , on the morrow , she presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift , I , with childish seriousness , interpreted her words literally and looked upon Elizabeth as mine — mine to protect , love , and cherish . All praises bestowed on her I received as made to a possession of my own . We called each other familiarly by the name of cousin . No word , no expression could body forth the kind of relation in which she stood to me — my more than sister , since till death she was to be mine only . Chapter 2 We were brought up together ; there was not quite a year difference in our ages . I need not say that we were strangers to any species of disunion or dispute . Harmony was the soul of our companionship , and the diversity and contrast that subsisted in our characters drew us nearer together . Elizabeth was of a calmer and more concentrated disposition ; but , with all my ardour , I was capable of a more intense application and was more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge . She busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets ; and in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home — the sublime shapes of the mountains , the changes of the seasons , tempest and calm , the silence of winter , and the life and turbulence of our Alpine summers — she found ample scope for admiration and delight . While my companion contemplated with a serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things , I delighted in investigating their causes . The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine . Curiosity , earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature , gladness akin to rapture , as they were unfolded to me , are among the earliest sensations I can remember .
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