"
Mary drew her uncle's hand to her lips, and whilst her dropping tears
fell upon it, she threw herself, like a confiding child, on her
knees, and replied in a timid voice: "I should be a monster of
ingratitude could I hide anything from you, my dearest sir, after
this goodness! I confess that I do regard the Count Sobieski more
than any being on earth. Who could see and know him and think it
possible to become another's?"
"And you shall be his, my darling Mary!" cried the baronet, mingling
his own blissful tears with hers. "I once hoped to have contrived an
attachment between you and Pembroke, but Heaven has decreed it
better. When you and Thaddeus are united, I shall be happy; I may
then die in peace."
Miss Beaufort sighed heavily. She could not yet quite participate in
her uncle's rapture. She thought that she had insulted and disgusted
the count by her late behavior, beyond his excuse, and was opening
her lips to urge it again, when the object of their conversation
appeared at a short distance, coming towards them.
Full of renewed trepidation, she burst from the baronet's hand, and
taking to flight, left her uncle to meet Sobieski alone.
Sir Robert's anxious question on the same subject received a more
rapid reply from Thaddeus than had proceeded from the reluctant Miss
Beaufort. The animated gratitude of Sobieski, the ardent yet
respectful manner with which he avowed her eminence in his heart
above all other women, convinced the baronet that Mary's retreating
delicacy had misinformed her.
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