- Yet many things have seemed impossible that are not so in
themselves: - O Louisa! continued he, if there be any thing beside my
want of merit that impedes my wishes, and you delight not in my torment,
speak it I conjure you.
There is a necessity of denying you in this also, said Louisa; but to
shew you how little I am inclined to be ungrateful, be certain that I
have the highest idea of your merits, and prize them as much as I
ought to do.
These last words, obliging as they were, could not console monsieur du
Plessis for the cruelty, as he termed it, of refusing to let him know
what this invincible obstacle was which put a stop to any further
correspondence between them: he spared neither prayers nor tears to draw
the secret from her, but all were ineffectual; and she at last told him,
that if he pressed her any farther on that head, she must for the future
avoid his presence.
This was a menace which he had not courage to dare the execution of, and
he promised to conform to her will, tho' with such agonies, as shewed
her how much he valued even the little she was pleased to grant; but it
was not in the power of her perswasions to prevail on him to resolve to
make any efforts for the vanquishing his passion; he still protested
that he neither could cease to love her, and her alone, nor even to wish
an alteration in his sentiments.
By what has been already said of the extreme liking which the first
fight of this young gentleman inspired Louisa with, it may easily be
supposed she could not hear his complaints, and be witness of the
anxieties she was enforced to inflict on him, without feeling at least
an equal share: she endeavoured not to conceal the pity she had for him;
but he now found that was far from being all he wanted, because it
forwarded not, as he at first imagined, the progress of his hopes, but
rather shewed them at more distance than ever.
The business of his love so engrossed his thoughts during this visit,
that he almost forgot to mention any thing of the count's designs upon
her, and she as little remembered to remind him of it, tho' he told her
on his entrance, that he had something to acquaint her with on his
subject, and it was not till he was going to take leave that it came
into his head. When he had related it to her, she assured him that she
took the caution he gave her as a new proof of his friendship, which,
said she, I shall always prize. At parting, she permitted him to salute
her, and gave her promise not to refuse seeing him while they continued
in that city; but told him at the same time, that he must not expect any
thing from his repeated visits more than she had already granted.
