- Be Assured You Have Many Well-Wishers
Here, Among The Number Of Whom You
Will Be Guilty Of Great Injustice Not To Place
CHARLOTTA DE PALFOY."
How well were all the late anxieties he had endured attoned for by this
billet; it was short indeed, and wrote with a more distant air than he
might have expected, had the dear authoress been at liberty to pursue
the dictates of her heart; but as it informed him it was permitted by
her father, and was doubtless under his inspection, the knowledge that
he had authorized her to write at all, was more flattering to his hopes
of happiness than all she could have said without that Sanction. After
having indulged the raptures this condescention excited, he proceeded to
the rest, and found the next he opened was from the baron de Palfoy, who
expressed himself to him in these terms:
To Colonel HORATIO.
"I think myself obliged to you for so much
exceeding the character I gave you; but I
value myself on knowing mankind, and am glad
to find I was not deceived in you, when I expected
you to do more than I durst venture on
my own opinion to assure the count. He tells me,
in a letter I received from him the last courier,
that the victorious Charles XII. himself cannot
behave with greater bravery in the time of action,
nor more moderation after it is over. - This
is a great praise, indeed, from such a man
as he; and I acquaint you with it not to make
you vain, for that would blemish the lustre of
your other good qualities, but that you may
know how to make proper acknowledgments to
that minister."
"Our court, I know, makes pressing influences
to the king of Sweden not to carry on the way
any farther: I wish they may succeed, or if they
should not, that you might be able to find some
opportunity of quitting the service for reasons
which you will see in a letter that accompanies
this, and to which nothing can be added to convince
you what part you ought to take. - I
shall therefore say no more than that I am, with
a very tender regard,
Yours,
PALFOY"
Rejoiced as he was at receiving a letter from the father of his
mistress, wrote in a manner which he might look upon as a kind of
confirmation he no longer would be refractory to his wishes, the latter
part of it contained an enigma he could by no means comprehend. - It
seemed impossible to him there could be any reasons prevalent enough to
make him quit, with honour, a prince who had so liberally rewarded his
service; but hoping a further explanation, he lost not any time in
conjectures; and tearing open the other letter without giving himself
time to examine the hand in which it was directed, found, to his
inexpressible astonishment, the name of Dorilaus subscribed. It was
indeed wrote by that gentleman, and contained at follows:
Dear Horatio,
"Accidents, which at our parting neither of
us could foresee, have doubtless long since
made you cease to hope any continuance of that
kindness my former behaviour seemed to promise;
but never, perhaps did heaven deal its
blessings with a more mysterious hand than it
has done to you. - That seeming neglect in
me, at a time when you were a prisoner among
strangers, and had most need of my assistance,
had the appearance of the greatest misfortune
could befall you; yet has it been productive of
the greatest good, and laid the foundation of a
happiness which cannot be but lasting. - I reserve
the explanation of this riddle till you arrive
at Paris, where I now am, and intend to
continue my whole life. - That I impatiently
desire to see you, ought to be a sufficient inducement
for you to return with as much expedition
as possible: - I will therefore make this
experiment of that affection, I might add duty,
you owe me, and only give you leave to guess
what recompence this proof of your obedience
will entitle you to. - If therefore the king of
Sweden is resolute to extend his conquests, entreat
his permission to resign: I know the obligations
you have to that excellent prince; but I
know also you have others to me which cannot
be dispensed with: - besides, his majesty's affairs
cannot suffer by the loss of one man: yours
will be in danger, if not totally ruined, by your
continuance with him, and myself deprived at
the same time of the only remaining comfort of
my days. - Your sister left me soon after you
did: - she went to Aix la Chapelle, since
which I have never been able to hear any thing
of her. - Let me not lose you both; if you
have any regard for your own interest, or the
peace of him whom you have ever found a father
in his care and affection, and whom you will
now find so more than you can possibly expect.
DORILAUS."
Impossible is it to conceive, without being in the very circumstances
Horatio was, what a strange variety of mingled passions agitated his
breast on having to read, and considered these letters: - to find such
unhoped condescension from the baron de Palfoy and that Dorilaus was
still living, and had the same, if not more tender inclinations for him
than ever, the latter of which he had long since ceased to hope, was
sufficient to have overwhelmed even the most phlegmatic person with an
excess of joy: - but then the dark expressions in both these letters put
his brain on the rack. - The baron had seemed to refer to an explanation
of what he darkly hinted at in the letter of Dorilaus, but that he found
rather more obsolete: he could imagine nothing farther than that
Dorilaus having resolved to make him his heir, as he remembered some
people said before he left England, on the knowledge of that
intelligence the baron de Palfoy had consented to his marriage with
mademoiselle Charlotta, and this, her being permitted to write to him
confirmed.
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