I see him, though cast out from a
hardened and unjust society, still surrounded by the lingering
spirits of those who were called to better worlds!
"And this is the man, my dear father, (whom I am sure, had he been of
any other country than Poland, you would have selected from all other
men to be the friend and example of your son),--this is he whom you
command me to thrust away.
"I beseech you to examine this injunction! I am now writing under the
same roof with him; it depends on you, my ever-revered father,
whether I am doing so for the last time; whether this is the last day
in which your son is to consider himself a man of honor, or whether
he is henceforth to be a wretch overwhelmed with shame and sorrow!
"I have not yet dared to utter one word of your cruel orders to my
unhappy friend. He is now retired to seek some rest, after the new
anguish of having witnessed the almost sudden death of Lady
Tinemouth. Should I have to tell him that he is to lose me too-but I
cannot add more. Your own heart, my father, must tell you that my
soul is on the rack until I have an answer to this letter."
"Before I shut my paper, let me implore you on my knees, whatever you
may decide, do not hate me; do not load my breaking heart with a
parent's curse! Whatever I may be, however low and degraded in my own
eyes, still, that I sacrificed what is most precious to me, to my
father, will impart the only consolation which will then have power
to reach your dutiful and afflicted son.
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