bably, as he has been!—That native dignity, that
heroism, I will call it, which has, on all proper
occasions, exerted itself in its full lustre, unmingled
>>> with that charming obligingness and condescending
sweetness, which is evermore the softener of that
dignity, when your mind is free and unapprehen-
sive!
>>> Let me stop to admire, and to bless my beloved
friend, who, unhappily
for herself, at an age so
tender, unacquainted
as she was with the world, and
with the vile arts of
libertines, having been called
upon to sustain the
hardest and most shocking trials,
from persecuting relations
on one hand, and from
a villanous lover on
the other, has been enabled to
give such an illustrious
example of fortitude and
prudence as never woman
gave before her; and
who, as I have heretofore
observed,* has made a
far greater figure in
adversity, than she possibly
could have made, had
all her shining qualities been
exerted in their full
force and power, by the con-
>>> tinuance of that prosperous run of fortune which
attended her for eighteen
years of life out of
nineteen.
* See Vol. IV. Letters XXIV.
***
>>> But now, my dear, do I apprehend, that you
are in greater danger
than ever yet you have been
in; if you are not married
in a week; and yet stay
in this abominable house.
For were you out of it,
I own I should not be
much afraid for you.
These
are my thoughts, on the most deliberate
>>> consideration: ’That he is now convinced,
that
he has not been able
to draw you off your guard:
that therefore, if he
can obtain no new advantage
over you as he goes
along, he is resolved to do you
all the poor justice
that it is in the power of such a
wretch as he to do you.
He is the rather induced to
this, as he sees that
all his own family have warmly
engaged themselves in
your cause: and that it is
>>> his highest interest to be just to you.
Then the
horrid wretch loves
you (as well he may) above all
women. I have
no doubt of this: with such a love
>>> as such a wretch is capable of: with such
a love as
Herod loved his Marianne.
He is now therefore,
very probably, at last,
in earnest.’
I took time for inquiries
of different natures, as
I knew, by the train you are in, that whatever
his
designs are, they cannot ripen either for good
or
>>> evil till something shall result from this device
of his about Tomlinson and your uncle.
Device I have no doubt that
it is, whatever this
dark, this impenetrable spirit intends by it.