University of Virginia Library

I am glad, thought Arthur, as he wiped away his
tears, after reading the letter for the third time in
the course of the day—I am glad my father has left
me perfectly free respecting Ellen. Had he expressed
a wish that I should marry her, it would
have been to me sacred as the laws of the Medes
and Persians. Yet I might have felt it a fetter on
my free will—and so capricious is fancy, I should
not, probably, have loved the girl as I now hope to
love her, that is, if she will love me—as a brother.