The sudden arrival of orders for the regiment to repair to the
Continent completed the confusion of his mind. He remained for a
short time in a state of the most painful irresolution; he
hesitated to communicate the tidings until the day for marching
was at hand, when he gave her the intelligence in the course of
an evening ramble.
The idea of parting had never before occurred to her. It broke in
at once upon her dream of felicity; she looked upon it as a
sudden and insurmountable evil, and wept with the guileless
simplicity of a child. He drew her to his bosom and kissed the
tears from her soft cheek; nor did he meet with a repulse, for
there are moments of mingled sorrow and tenderness which hallow
the caresses of affection. He was naturally impetuous, and the
sight of beauty apparently yielding in his arms, the confidence
of his power over her, and the dread of losing her forever all
conspired to overwhelm his better feelings: he ventured to
propose that she should leave her home and be the companion of
his fortunes.
He was quite a novice in seduction, and blushed and faltered at
his own baseness; but so innocent of mind was his intended victim
that she was at first at a loss to comprehend his meaning, and
why she should leave her native village and the humble roof of
her parents.
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