|
||||||||
of moral sense. What an extremely airy house this is, and how beautifully kept! For one like myselfa widower so long these tokens of female care and superintendence have inexpressible charms. Mrs Varden began to think (she scarcely knew why) that the young Mr Chester must be in the wrong and the old Mr Chester must he in the right. My son Ned, resumed her tempter with his most winning air, has had, I am told, your lovely daughters aid, and your open-hearted husbands. Much more than mine, sir, said Mrs Varden; a great deal more. I have often had my doubts. Its a A bad example, suggested Mr Chester. It is. No doubt it is. Your daughter is at that age when to set before her an encouragement for young persons to rebel against their parents on this most important point, is particularly injudicious. You are quite right. I ought to have thought of that myself, but it escaped me, I confessso far superior are your sex to ours, dear madam, in point of penetration and sagacity. Mrs Varden looked as wise as if she had really said something to deserve this complimentfirmly believed she had, in shortand her faith in her own shrewdness increased considerably. My dear maam, said Mr Chester, you embolden me to be plain with you. My son and I are at variance on this point. The young lady and her natural guardian differ upon it, also. And the closing point is, that my son is bound by his duty to me, by his honour, by every solemn tie and obligation, to marry some one else. Engaged to marry another lady! quoth Mrs Varden, holding up her hands. My dear madam, brought up, educated, and trained, expressly for that purpose. Expressly for that purpose.Miss Haredale, I am told, is a very charming creature. I am her foster-mother, and should knowthe best young lady in the world, said Mrs Varden. I have not the smallest doubt of it. I am sure she is. And you, who have stood in that tender relation towards her, are bound to consult her happiness. Now, can Ias I have said to Haredale, who quite agreescan I possibly stand by, and suffer her to throw herself away (although she is of a Catholic family), upon a young fellow who, as yet, has no heart at all? It is no imputation upon him to say he has not, because young men who have plunged deeply into the frivolities and conventionalities of society, very seldom have. Their hearts never grow, my dear maam, till after thirty. I dont believe, no, I do not believe, that I had any heart myself when I was Neds age. Oh sir, said Mrs Varden, I think you must have had. Its impossible that you, who have so much now, can ever have been without any. I hope, he answered, shrugging his shoulders meekly, I have a little; I hope, a very littleHeaven knows! But to return to Ned; I have no doubt you thought, and therefore interfered benevolently in his behalf, that I objected to Miss Haredale. How very natural! My dear madam, I object to himto himemphatically to Ned himself. Mrs Varden was perfectly aghast at the disclosure. He has, if he honourably fulfils this solemn obligation of which I have told youand he must be honourable, dear Mrs Varden, or he is no son of minea fortune within his reach. He is of most expensive, ruinously expensive habits; and if, in a moment of caprice and wilfulness, he were to marry this young lady, and so deprive himself of the means of gratifying the tastes to which he has been so long accustomed, he wouldmy dear madam, he would break the gentle creatures heart. Mrs Varden, my good lady, my dear soul, I put it to youis such a sacrifice to be endured? Is the female heart a thing to be trifled with in this way? Ask your own, my dear madam. Ask your own, I beseech you. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Copyright: All texts on Bibliomania are © Bibliomania.com Ltd, and may not be reproduced in any form without our written permission. See our FAQ for more details. | ||||||||