Molesworth! _you_ are my friend,--I take your admonitions well;--but, surely, you should not press thus hardly on my soul, knowing its uneasy situation.--My state is even more perplexing than when we parted:--I did not then know she was going to France.--_Yes_, she is absolutely going to _France_.--Why leave her friends here?--Why not wait the arrival of Lady Mary Sutton in England? I have used every dissuasive argument _but one_.--That shall be my last.--If _that_ fails I go--I positively go with her.--It is your opinion that she loves me.--Would it were mine!--_Not_ the least partiality can I discover.--Why then be precipitate?--Every moment she is gaining ground in the affections of Sir James and Lady Powis.--_Time_ may work wonders in the mind of the former.--Without his consent never can I give my hand;--the commands of a dying father forbid me.--_Such_ a father!--O George! you did not know him;--_so_ revered,--_so_ honour'd,--_so_ belov'd! not more in public than in private life. _My friend_, behold your son!--_Darcey_, behold your father!--_As_ you reverence and obey Sir James, _as_ you consult him on all occasions, _as_ you are guided by his advice, receive my blessing.--These were his parting words, hugg'd into me in his last cold embrace.--No, George, the promise I made can never be forfeited.--I sealed it on his lifeless hand, before I was borne from him. _Now_, are you convinc'd no mean views with-hold me?--You despise not more than I do the knave and coxcomb; for no other, to satiate their own vanity, would sport away the quiet of a fellow-creature.--Well may you call it cruel.--_Such_ cruelties fall little short of those practised by _Nero_ and _Caligula_. Did it depend on myself only, I would tell Miss Warley I love, _every time_ I behold her enchanting face; _every time_ I hear the voice of wisdom springing from the seat of innocence. No shadow of gaining over Sir James!--_Efforts_ has not been wanting:--I mean _efforts_ to declare my inclination.--I have follow'd him like a ghost for days past, thinking at every step how I should bless _this_ or _that_ spot on which he consented to my happiness.--Pleasing phantoms!--How have they fled at sight of his determin'd countenance!--Methought I could trace _in it_ the same obduracy which nature vainly pleaded to remove.--In _other_ matters my heart is resolute;--_here_ an errant coward.--No! I cannot break it to him whilst in Hampshire.--When I get to town, a letter _shall_ speak for me.--Sometimes I am tempted to trust the secret to Lady Powis.--She is compassionate;--she would even risk her own peace to preserve mine.--Again the thoughts of involving her in fresh perplexities determines me against it.