Mistress of immense wealth, her hand would not only put the
injured Thaddeus in possession of the pure delights which only a
mutual sympathy can bestow, but would enable his munificent spirit to
again exert itself in the worthy disposal of an almost princely
fortune.
Such meditations having followed the now tranquillized baronet to his
pillow, they brought him into the breakfast-parlor next day full of
that calm pleasure which promises a steady continuance. The happy
family were assembled. Miss Dorothy saluted her brother, whose
brightened eye declared that he had something pleasant to
communicate; and he did not keep her in suspense. With the first cup
of coffee the good lady poured out, his grateful heart unburdened
itself of the delightful tidings that ere many months, perhaps weeks,
he had reason to hope Miss Beaufort would give her hand to the Count
Sobieski. Pembroke was the only hearer who did not evince surprise at
this announcement. Every one else had been kept uninformed, on the
especial injunction of Sir Robert, who desired its knowledge to be
withheld till he had completed some necessary preliminaries in his
mind. But Thaddeus, by the permission of the happy parent, during a
long and interesting conversation in his library, which passed
between the father and his new-found son, immediately after the
latter's blissful parting with his then heart-affianced Mary, had
hastened to his brother, and retiring with him to his little study,
there communicated, in full and enraptured confidence, the whole
events of the recent mutual explanations.
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