"My love made rapid progress--I became each hour more enamored of my
new-found cousin. My whole time was passed near her; indeed, I could
scarcely exist in absence from her side. Short, however, was destined to
be my indulgence in this blissful state. One happy week was its extent.
I received a peremptory summons from my father to return home.
"Immediately upon commencing this acquaintance, I had written to my
father, explaining every particular attending it. This I should have
done of my own free will, but I was urged to it by Mrs. Mowbray.
Unaccustomed to disguise, I had expatiated upon the beauty of Eleanor,
and in such terms, I fear, that I excited some uneasiness in his breast.
His letter was laconic. He made no allusion to the subject upon which I
had expatiated when writing to him. He commanded me to return.
"The bitter hour was at hand. I could not hesitate to comply. Without my
father's sanction, I was assured Mrs. Mowbray would not permit any
continuance of my acquaintance. Of Eleanor's inclinations I fancied I
had some assurance; but without her mother's consent, to whose will she
was devoted, I felt, had I even been inclined to urge it, that my suit
was hopeless. The letter which I had received from my father made me
more than doubt whether I should not find him utterly adverse to my
wishes. Agonized, therefore, with a thousand apprehensions, I presented
myself on the morning of my departure. It was then I made the
declaration of my passion to Eleanor; it was then that every hope was
confirmed, every apprehension realized. I received from her lips a
confirmation of my fondest wishes; yet were those hopes blighted in the
bud, when I heard, at the same time, that their consummation was
dependent on the will of two others, whose assenting voices, she feared,
could never be obtained. From Mrs. Mowbray I received a more decided
reply. All her haughtiness was aroused. Her farewell words assured me,
that it was indifferent to her whether we met again as relatives or as
strangers. Then was it that the native tenderness of Eleanor displayed
itself, in an outbreak of feeling peculiar to a heart keenly sympathetic
as hers. She saw my suffering--the reserve natural to her sex gave
way--she flung herself into my arms--and so we parted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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