But from the continual recurrence of her apprehensions,
that the warm affection of her cousin had too highly colored the
first part of his representation, this latter task was not more easy
to accomplish than the former.
In vain she remonstrated, in vain she doubted, in vain demurred.
Pembroke would not be denied. He saw her heart was with him; and when
with faltering lips she assented to the permission, which he almost
extorted, she threw her arms round his neck, and implored him, "by
all he loved and honored, to be careful of her peace; to remember
that she put into his charge all that was most precious to woman--the
modesty of her sex and her own self-esteem !"
Delighted at this consent, notwithstanding he received it through the
medium of many tears, he fondly and gratefully pressed her to his
bosom, uttering his own soul's fervent conviction of a future
domestic happiness to them all. Having stood till he saw her re-enter
the house from a door on the terrace, he mounted his horse and set
off on the spur towards Harrow by Hill.
CHAPTER XLIV.
LETTERS OF FAREWELL.
When Thaddeus recovered from the reverie into which he fell on the
departure of Mr. Somerset, he considered how he might remove out of a
country in which he had only met with and occasioned distress.
The horrid price that Pembroke's father had set on the continuance of
his son's friendship with a powerless exile was his curse.
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