his heart had already done so, even before he perceived these secret promptings? How subtle a casuist is the mind in reconciling our duties to our inclinations! His contemplated union with Edith, instead of its being viewed as an act of infidelity to the memory of Agatha, appeared to him now an act of obedience to her dying injunctions, which he was imperatively called upon to perform. With her expiring breath she had solemnly conveyed to him a first and last request, and every impulse of his bosom, every suggestion of his judgment, urged him to compliance. As soon as he had decided upon making a tender of his hand to Edith, he considered that the most persuasive mode of doing so would be to submit to her perusal the last letter he had received from Agatha, which obvious considerations of delicacy had hitherto induced him to withhold. This he did accordingly, when urging upon the blushing and trembling girl the solemn obligations imposed by this death-bed entreaty of their departed friend, and making an impassioned declaration of his love, he formally tendered to her his hand and heart. Overcome with agitation, Edith, pressing the letter to her lips, and bedewing it with her tears, sobbed out the words "Dear, gene rous, noble-minded Agatha !" nor was it until some minutes had elapsed, that, in reply to the eager solicitations of her lover, she confessed she had given up to him her whole affections, and as she sank half-fainting into his arms, yielded a delighted though scarcely audible consent to his wishes. VOL. III. 1 CHAPTER XI. (CONCLUSION.) Lieve son al par del vento, Or mi torno a serenar. Il Sogno di Scipione. Oh! when you all get wives, and such as mine, ISABELLA. OUT of respect to the memory of their friend, the nuptials of the happy pair were deferred for some time, and were at length celebrated in a quiet unostentatious manner. Sir Miles, who had received some vague intimation of his son's former attachment to Agatha, and had been filled with a profound horror at the thought of his marrying a Catholic, was proportionately elated at his union with Edith Colyton; in confirmation of which friendly feeling he was not only an active participant in all the proceedings of the wedding, but made several splendid presents to the bride, and enabled his son, by a handsome addition to his income, to support his wife in a becoming style. Both families were equally gratified at the match, and the Colytons were more especially delighted when they found that the newly married couple were to reside on a small estate belonging to Sir Miles, at only a short distance from Orchard Place. Walter and Hetty were settled in the house at Bridgwater given to them by Paul Mapletoft; so that the double marriage in the family, instead of occasioning that painful domestic separation, and severing of the ties of relationship which is the frequent concomitant of these alliances, had happily collected the parties together in the same neighbourhood, and enabled them to enjoy the pleasures of love without sacrificing those of friendship and social intercourse. Forester and Walter Colyton confirmed upon closer intimacy that mutual regard which had sprung up on a very slight acquaintance, although it had been early distinguished by reciprocal acts of generosity; their wives preserved and cemented the attachment which had subsisted from their days of childhood; and the parents on both sides, for Sir Miles lived within visiting distance, fully participated in the happiness of their offspring. To Forester in particular, whose life for several years past had been an almost incessant ́struggle with difficulties of the most harassing nature, and dangers under which nothing but the most heroical and indomitable spirit of patriotism could have sustained him, the calm felicity, the even-flowing beatitude of his present existence was rendered doubly entrancing by the effect of contrast. It seemed as if he had reversed the fate of our first parent, and |