The Baron called here this morning. Don't be angry with me, my dearest
Louisa, for mentioning _his_ name, this will indeed be the last time.
Never more will thy sister behold him. He is gone; yes, Louisa, I shall
never see him again. But will his looks, his sighs, and tears, be
forgotten? Oh! never, never! He came to bid me adieu, "Could I but leave
you happy," he cried in scarce articulate accents--"Was I but blest with
the remote hope of your having your merit rewarded in this world, I
should quit you with less regret and anguish. Oh! Lady Stanley! best of
women! I mean not to lay claim to your gratitude; far be such an idea
from my soul! but for your sake I leave the kingdom."
"For mine!" I exclaimed, clasping my hands wildly together, hardly
knowing what I said or did, "What! leave me! Leave the kingdom for my
sake! Oh! my God! what advantage can accrue to me by losing"--I could
not proceed; my voice failed me, and I remained the petrified statue of
despair.
"Lady Stanley," said he with an assumed calmness, "be composed, and hear
me. In an age like this, where the examples of vice are so many and so
prevalent, though a woman is chaste as the icicle that hangs on Diana's
temple, still she will be suspected; and, was the sun never to look upon
her, yet she would be tainted by the envenomed breath of slander. Lady
Anne Parker has dared in a public company to say, that the most virtuous
and lovely of her sex will speedily find consolation for the infidelity
of her husband, by making reprisals; her malevolence has farther induced
her to point her finger to one, who adores all the virtues with which
Heaven first endued woman in your form. A voluntary banishment on my
side may wipe off this transient eclipse of the fairest and most amiable
character in the world, and the beauties of it shine forth with greater
lustre, like the diamond, which can only be sullied by the breath, and
which evaporates in an instant, and beams with fresh brilliancy. I would
not wish you to look into my heart," added he with a softened voice,
"lest your compassion might affect you too much; yet you know not, you
never can know, what I have suffered, and must for ever suffer.
"Condemn'd, alas! whole ages to deplore,
And image charms I must behold no more."
I sat motionless during his speech; but, finding him silent, and, I
believe, from his emotions, unable to proceed, "Behold," cried I, "with
what a composed resignation I submit to my fate. I hoped I had been too
inconsiderable to have excited the tongue of slander, or fix its sting
in my bosom. But may you, my friend, regain your peace and happiness in
your native country!"
"My native country!" exclaimed he, "What is my native country, what the
whole globe itself, to that spot which contains all? But I will say no
more. I dare not trust myself, I must not. Oh Julia! forgive me! Adieu,
for ever!" I had no voice to detain him; I suffered him to quit the
room, and my eyes lost sight of him--for ever!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account