Our sweet William
has gained by our loss: he is blessed in heaven, while we weakly
lament him on earth. Besides, you are not yet deprived of all; you
have a grand-daughter."
"Ah, poor little thing! what will become of her when I die? I used to
think what a precious brother my darling boy would prove to his
sister when I should be no more!"
This additional image augmented the affliction of the good old woman;
and Thaddeus, looking on her with affectionate compassion, exclaimed--
"Mrs. Robson, the same Almighty Being that protected me, the last of
my family, will protect the orphan offspring of a woman so like the
revered Naomi!"
Mrs. Robson lifted up her head for a moment. She had never before
heard him utter a sentence of his own history; and what he now said,
added to the tender solemnity of his manner, for an instant arrested
her attention. He went on.
"In me you see a man who, within the short space of three months, has
lost a grandfather, who loved him as fondly as you did your William;
a mother, whom he saw expire before him, and whose sacred remains he
was forced to leave in the hands of her murderers! Yes, Mrs. Robson,
I have neither parents nor a home. I was a stranger, and you took me
in; and Heaven will reward your family, in kind. At least, I promise
that whilst I live, whatever be my fate, should you be called hence,
I will protect your grand-daughter with a brother's care.
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