صفحة 412 من 817

If it be so, if I have been misled by such error to inflict pain

on her, your resentment has not been unreasonable. But I shall

not scruple to assert, that the serenity of your sister's

countenance and air was such as might have given the most acute

observer a conviction that, however amiable her temper, her heart

was not likely to be easily touched. That I was desirous of

believing her indifferent is certain; but I will venture to say

that my investigations and decisions are not usually influenced

by my hopes or fears. I did not believe her to be indifferent

because I wished it; I believed it on impartial conviction, as

truly as I wished it in reason. My objections to the marriage

were not merely those which I last night acknowledged to have

required the utmost force of passion to put aside in my own case;

the want of connection could not be so great an evil to my friend

as to me.