He obeyed; and hardly conscious of what she said, she continued--
"You have done nothing, Count Sobieski, to offend me. I was fearful
of my own conduct--that you might have supposed--I mean, unfortunate
appearances might lead you to imagine that I was influenced--was so
forgetful of myself--"
"Cease, madam! Cease, for pity's sake!" cried Thaddeus starting back,
and dropping her hand. Every motion which faltered on her tongue had
met an answering pang in his breast.
Fearing that he had set his heart on the possession of a treasure
totally out of his reach, he knew not how high had been his hope
until he felt the depth of his despair. Taking up his hat, which lay
on the grass, with a countenance from which every gleam of joy was
banished, he bowed respectfully, and in a lower tone continued: "The
dependent situation in which I appeared at Lady Dundas's being ever
before my eyes, I was not so absurd as to suppose that any lady could
then notice me from any other sentiment than humanity. That I excited
this humanity, where alone I was proud to awaken it, was, in these
hours of dejection, my sole comfort. It consoled me for the friends I
had lost; it repaid me for the honors which were no more. But that is
past! Seeing no further cause for compassion, you deem the delusion
no longer necessary. Since you will not allow me an individual
distinction in having attracted your benevolence, though I am to
ascribe it all to a charity as diffused as effective, yet I must ever
acknowledge with the deepest gratitude that I owe my present home and
happiness to Miss Beaufort.
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