- But, Continued He After A Pause, You
Ought To Consider I Am A Father, That Charlotta Is My Only Child,
That
my whole estate, and what is of infinite more consideration with me, the
honour of my family, must all
Devolve on her, and that I am under
obligations not to be dispensed with, to dispose of her in such a manner
as shall not any way degrade the ancestry she is sprung from. - I own
your merits: - I also am indebted to you for my life: - but you are a
foreigner, your family unknown, - your fortune precarious: - I could wish
it were otherwise; - believe, I find in myself an irresistable impulse to
love you, and I know nothing would give me greater pleasure than to
convince you of it. - In fine, there is nothing but Charlotta I would
refuse you.
The old lord uttered all this with so feeling an accent that Horatio was
very much moved at it; but unable to guess what would be the consequence
of this strange preparation, and not having any thing to ask of him but
the only thing he had declared he would not grant, he only thanked him
for the concern he was pleased to express, and said, that perhaps there
might come a time in which the obscurity he was in at present would be
enlightened; at least, cried he, I shall have the satisfaction of
endeavouring to acquire by merit what I am denied by fortune.
I admire this noble ambition in you, replied the baron de Palfoy; pursue
these laudable views, and doubt not of success:
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