An honest man, indeed,
is ever a parodox to all but those who see things with his own
eyes. This is the reason that improper motives are so often imputed to
the simplest and seemingly most honest deeds.
The result was, to write, entreating Lucy to come to Clawbonny; first
taking care to secure her father's assent, to aid my request. This was
done in a way not to awaken any alarm, and yet with sufficient
strength to render it tolerably certain she would come. On deliberate
reflection, and after seeing my sister at table, where she ate nothing
but a light vegetable diet, and passing the evening with her, I
thought I could not do less in justice to the invalid or her friend. I
took the course with great regret on several accounts; and, among
others, from a reluctance to appear to draw Lucy away from the society
of my rival, into my own. Yet what right had I to call myself the
rival or competitor of a man who had openly professed an attachment,
where I had never breathed a syllable myself that might not readily be
mistaken for the language of that friendship, which time, and habit,
and a respect for each other's qualities, so easily awaken among the
young of different sexes? I had been educated almost as Lucy's
brother; and why should she not feel towards me as one?
Neb went out in the boat as soon as he got his orders and the
Wallingford sailed again in ballast that very night.
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