Cora and The Doctor; or, Revelations of A Physician's WifeLeslie, Madeline
General
Cora and The Doctor; or, Revelations of A Physician's Wife
Leslie, Madeline
Physicians -- Fiction
The Doctor has explained to me what appeared strange in the conduct of
our cousin, especially as connected with Adele. Her history I will give
you in a few words. She was left when a child to the guardianship of her
uncle. Being quite an heiress, he wished her to make what he called a
great match. But Mademoiselle, whose wishes had never been
crossed--whose slightest whim had been law to the whole household, had
fallen in love with a young man whose only inheritance was a heart full
of warm and generous impulses, united to a strength of determined
purpose, which would in the end surmount all obstacles in his path, to
riches and honor. All the wealth of his affections he had lavished upon
the charming Adele, and she fully reciprocated the attachment. But
Monsieur Vinet, her guardian, was very much enraged when the young and
ardent lover asked the hand of his niece, and positively refused his
consent. It was this which had caused him to send her for a time to his
brother near Nice, in the hope that absence would dissolve their foolish
fondness. Joseph had been made a confidant by each of the parties; and
it was a letter addressed to him by Monsieur Couvier that had so
distressed Adele while at Nice. It was a short postscript in relation to
this subject which had so much disturbed cousin, when Franky commenced
reading the letter aloud.
The crisis of her troubles which had occurred at a time so unfortunate
for poor Pauline, was caused in the following manner. Adele, driven
almost to despair by the inflexibility of her guardian, determined to
make an appeal to him in her own behalf. She had thrown herself at his
feet, and with all the enthusiasm of her impulsive nature, had begged
his consent to her union with the one she loved. She offered to give up
to him all her property, and in everything else, to be all that he could
desire. Monsieur Vinet really loved his niece after his own fashion, and
could not be made to understand why she should prefer a man so poorly
endowed by fortune, to one who, though of doubtful morals, and
questionable virtue, yet was of noble birth and princely estate.
Having sued in vain for his consent, and being in her violent grief
wholly unmindful of appearances, she had driven to our hotel to beg
Joseph to intercede for her. I need not stop to detail all that
followed. Suffice it to say that his influence, added to the distressing
agony of Adele which she took no pains to control or to conceal, at
length prevailed, and Joseph had the pleasure before he left them of
feeling that he had been the means of securing happiness to two
otherwise distracted hearts.
_Wednesday, April 2d._
This morning the mystery connected with the bouquets has been revealed.
After receiving her morning gift from the hands of the servant, Pauline
gracefully went to her father, and thanked him for giving her so much
pleasure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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