"With a glowing cheek, and a countenance radiant with
happiness, did your mother receive my proposal to prepare
for her departure on the following day. She was sufficiently
aware, even through what I had stated myself, that there
were certain ceremonies of the Church to be performed,
in order to give sanctity to our union, and ensure her
own personal respectability in the world; and these, I
told her, would be solemnised by the chaplain of the
regiment. She implicitly confided in me; and she was
right; for I loved her too well to make her my mistress,
while no barrier existed to her claim to a dearer title.
And had she been the daughter of a peasant, instead of
a high-born gentleman, finding her as I had found her,
and loving her as I did love her, I should have acted
precisely in the same way.
"The only difficulty that now occurred was the manner of
her flight. The opening before alluded to as being the
point whence the old woman made her weekly sally to the
market town, was of so intricate and labyrinthian a
character that none but the colonel understood the secret
of its fastenings; and the bare thought of my venturing
with her on the route by which I had hitherto made my
entry into the oasis, was one that curdled my blood with
fear.
Pages:
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729