Give the Hardinges money,
and they will enjoy every advantage known in this country--more than
money can possibly give us--why, then, ought we to be so selfish as to
wish them deprived of this advantage? Place Lucy where you will, she
will always be Lucy; and, as for Rupert, so brilliant a young man
needs only an opportunity, to rise to anything the country possesses!"
Grace was so earnest, spoke with so much feeling, appeared so
disinterested, so holy I had almost said, that I could not find, in my
heart, the courage to try her any farther. That she began to distrust
Rupert, I plainly saw, though it was merely with the glimmerings of
doubt. A nature as pure as her's, and a heart so true, admitted with
great reluctance, the proofs of the unworthiness of one so long
loved. It was evident, moreover, that she shrunk from revealing her
own great secret, while she had only conjectures to offer in regard to
Lucy; and even these she withheld, as due to her sex, and the
obligations of friendship. I forgot that I had not been ingenuous
myself, and that I made no communication to justify any confidence on
the part of my sister. That which would have been treachery in her to
say, under this state of the case, might have been uttered with
greater frankness on my own part. After a pause, to allow my sister to
recover from her agitation, I turned the discourse to our own more
immediate family interests, and soon got off the painful subject
altogether.
Pages:
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625