Your mother sheltered me as a son; and I insist that you allow my
father to perform the same part by you! Besides, you shall not be
idle; you may have a commission in the army, and I will follow you."
The count pressed the hand of his friend, and looking gratefully but
mournfully in his face, replied, "Had I a hundred tongues, my
generous Pembroke, I could not express my sense of your friendship;
it is indeed a cordial to my heart; it imparts to me an earnest of
happiness which I thought had fled forever. But it shall not allure
me from my principles. I am resolved not to live a life of indolent
uselessness; and I cannot, at this period, enter the British army.
No," added he, emotion elevating his tone and manner; "rather would I
toil for subsistence by the sweat of my brow than be subjected to the
necessity of acting in concert with those ravagers who destroyed my
country! I cannot fight by the side of the allied powers who
dismembered it! I cannot enlist under the allies! I will not be led
out to devastation! Mine was, and ever shall be, a defensive sword;
and should danger threaten England, I would be as ready to withstand
her enemies as I ardently, though ineffectually, opposed those of
unhappy Poland."
Pembroke recognized the devoted soul of Thaddeus of Warsaw in this
lofty burst of enthusiasm; and aware that his father's munificence
and manner of conferring it would go further towards removing these
scruples than all his own arguments, he did not attempt to combat a
resolution which he knew he could not subdue, but tried to prevail
with him to become his guest until something could be arranged to
suit his wishes.
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