 was after my return from one of these rambles, that my father, calling me
aside, thus addressed me: -
    »I am happy to remark, my dear son, that you have resumed your former
pleasures, and seem to be returning to yourself. And yet you are still unhappy,
and still avoid our society. For some time I was lost in conjecture as to the
cause of this; but yesterday an idea struck me, and if it is well founded, I
conjure you to avow it. Reserve on such a point would be not only useless, but
draw down treble misery on us all.«
    I trembled violently at his exordium, and my father continued -
    »I confess, my son, that I have always looked forward to your marriage with
our dear Elizabeth as the tie of our domestic comfort, and the stay of my
declining years. You were attached to each other from your earliest infancy; you
studied together, and appeared, in dispositions and tastes, entirely suited to
one another. But so blind is the experience of man, that what I conceived to be
the best assistants to my plan, may have entirely destroyed it. You, perhaps,
regard her as your sister, without any wish that she might become your wife.
Nay, you may have met with another whom you may love; and, considering yourself
as bound in honour to Elizabeth, this struggle may occasion the poignant misery
which you appear to feel.«
    »My dear father, re-assure yourself. I love my cousin tenderly and
sincerely. I never saw any woman who excited, as Elizabeth does, my warmest
admiration and affection. My future hopes and prospects are entirely bound up in
the expectation of our union.«
    »The expression of your sentiments on this subject, my dear Victor, gives me
more pleasure than I have for some time experienced. If you feel thus, we shall
assuredly be happy, however present events may cast a gloom over us. But it is
this gloom which appears to have taken so strong a hold of your mind, that I
wish to dissipate. Tell me, therefore, whether you object to an immediate
solemnisation of the marriage. We have been unfortunate, and recent events have
drawn us from that every-day tranquillity befitting my years and infirmities.
You are younger; yet I do not suppose, possessed as you are of a competent
fortune, that an early marriage would at all interfere with any future plans of
honour and utility that you may have formed. Do not suppose, however, that I
wish to dictate happiness to
