I have been, as the phrase is, liberally educated, and am fit
for nothing. I find myself at last wholly dependent upon you, with no
resource but in your favour. In this momentous question of my life we do
not, and it would seem we never can, agree. I have shrunk instinctively
alike from those to whom you have urged me to pay court, and from the
motives of interest and gain which have rendered them in your eyes
visible objects for my suit. If there never has been thus much
plain-speaking between us before, sir, the fault has not been mine,
indeed. If I seem to speak too plainly now, it is, believe me father, in
the hope that there may be a franker spirit, a worthier reliance, and a
kinder confidence between us in time to come.'
'My good fellow,' said his smiling father, 'you quite affect me. Go
on, my dear Edward, I beg. But remember your promise. There is great
earnestness, vast candour, a manifest sincerity in all you say, but I
fear I observe the faintest indications of a tendency to prose.'
'I am very sorry, sir.'
'I am very sorry, too, Ned, but you know that I cannot fix my mind for
any long period upon one subject. If you'll come to the point at once,
I'll imagine all that ought to go before, and conclude it said.
Pages:
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215