She sunk on a seat, and turning her gaze full of
amazement towards the count, seemed to ask an explanation. Thaddeus,
who still retained her passive hand, pressed it warmly to his heart;
and whilst his effulgent eyes were beaming on her with joyous love,
he imparted to her a concise but impressive narrative of his
relationship with Sir Robert. He touched with short yet deep
enthusiasm, with more than one tearful pause, on the virtues of his
mother; he acknowledged the unbounded gratitude which was due to that
God who had so wonderfully conducted him to find a parent and a home
in England, and with renewed pathos of look and manner ratified the
proffer which Sir Robert had made of his heart and hand to her who
alone on this earth had reminded him of that angelic parent. "I nave
seen her beloved face, luminous in purity and tender pity, reflected
in yours, ever-honored Miss Beaufort, when your noble heart, more
than once, looked in compassion on her son. And I then felt, with a
wondering bewilderment, a sacred response in my soul, though I could
not explain it to myself. But since then that sister spirit of my
mother has often whispered it as if direct from heaven."
Mary had listened with uncontrollable emotion to this interesting
detail. Her eyes overflowed: their ingenuous language, enforced by
the warm blood which glowed on her cheek, did not require the medium
of words to declare what was passing in her mind.
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