The coach drew up,
but he went on:
"Then I hope that many of these patriots, besides your excellency,
have taken care to bring away their wealth from a land which they
must now see is abandoned to destruction?"
For a moment Thaddeus forget himself, indignation for his country,
and all her rights and all her sufferings rose in his countenance.
"No, sir! not one of those men, and least of all would I have drawn
one vital drop from her heart! I left in her murdered bosom all that
was dear to me--all that I possessed; and not until I saw the chains
brought before my eyes that were to lay her surviving sons in irons
did I turn my back on calamities I could no longer avert or
alleviate."
The ardor of his manner and the elevation of his voice had drawn the
attention of every person in the room upon him, when Jenkins entered
with his baggage. The door being opened, Sobieski sprang into the
coach, and gladly shut himself there, from a conversation which had
awakened all his griefs.
"Ah, poor enthusiast!" exclaimed his inquisitor, as the carriage
drove off. "It is a pity that so fine a young man should have made so
ill a use of his birth, and other natural advantages!"
"He appears to me," observed an old clergyman who sat in an adjoining
box, "to have made the best possible use of his natural advantages;
and had I a son, I would rather hear him utter such a sentiment as
the one with which that young man quitted the room, than see him
master of millions.
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