Give that charming girl a fair chance of
lighting up the old flame again if she can, and then come back to St.
Crux, and let me hear the result. If you tell me, as an honest man, that
your attachment to Miss Vanstone still remains unshaken, you will have
heard the last of my objections from that moment. Whatever misgivings I
may feel in my own mind, I will say nothing, and do nothing, adverse to
your wishes. There is my proposal. I dare say it looks like an old man's
folly, in your eyes. But the old man won't trouble you much longer,
George; and it may be a pleasant reflection, when you have got sons of
your own, to remember that you humored him in his last days."
He came back to the fire-place as he said those words, and laid his hand
once more on his nephew's shoulder. George took the hand and pressed it
affectionately. In the tenderest and best sense of the word, his uncle
had been a father to him.
"I will do what you ask me, sir," he replied, "if you seriously wish it.
But it is only right to tell you that the experiment will be perfectly
useless. However, if you prefer my passing a week at the Grange to my
passing it here, to the Grange I will go.
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