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"I confess, my son, that I have always looked forward to your

marriage with our dear Elizabeth as the tie of our domestic

comfort and the stay of my declining years. You were attached to

each other from your earliest infancy; you studied together, and

appeared, in dispositions and tastes, entirely suited to one

another. But so blind is the experience of man that what I

conceived to be the best assistants to my plan may have entirely

destroyed it. You, perhaps, regard her as your sister, without

any wish that she might become your wife. Nay, you may have met

with another whom you may love; and considering yourself as bound

in honour to Elizabeth, this struggle may occasion the poignant

misery which you appear to feel."

"My dear father, reassure yourself. I love my cousin tenderly and

sincerely. I never saw any woman who excited, as Elizabeth does,

my warmest admiration and affection. My future hopes and

prospects are entirely bound up in the expectation of our union."