"One day, while preparing to set out on my customary
excursion, a report suddenly reached me that the route
had arrived for the regiment, who were to march from ----
within three days. This intelligence I received with
inconceivable delight; for it had been settled between
your mother and myself, that this should be the moment
chosen for her departure. It was not to be supposed (and
I should have been both pained and disappointed had it
been otherwise,) that she would consent to abandon her
parent without some degree of regret; but, having foreseen
this objection from the first, I had gradually prepared
her for the sacrifice. This was the less difficult, as
he appeared never to have treated her with affection,
--seldom with the marked favour that might have been
presumed to distinguish the manner of a father towards
a lovely and only daughter. Living for himself and the
indulgence of his misanthropy alone, he cared little for
the immolation of his child's happiness on its unhallowed
shrine; and this was an act of injustice I had particularly
dwelt upon; upheld in truth, as it was, by the knowledge
she herself possessed, that no consideration could induce
him to bestow her hand on any one individual of a race
he so cordially detested; and this was not without
considerable weight in her decision.
Pages:
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728