 | Randolph |  |
ANSWER—FRANK TO SARAH.
Allow me, while my very forehead reddens with shame,
to confess the truth. That French sentence, I took from
my common place book.... just in the way that you
said; nay, that you may not think altogether better of
me, than I deserve, that very quotation from Tasso, was
taken from Rousseau, as you conjectured!—I happened
to get it for the purpose of comparing Byron with the
original; when these lines struck me, and I transcribed
them; determined to introduce them, the very first
decent opportunity, either in conversation, or writing.
I am very busy, this morning, and should not
have written you, even these few lines, were I not anxious
to shew my contrition, as speedily as possible, for
my folly. I am still occupied with my observations.
John is strangely myterious of late. Something, I should
imagine, had been cleared up, in that adventure of Juliet's;
for he speaks openly, now, of his intention to win
her, if he can. And I say, let him, if he can. I do not
believe that she will be easily brought to love another.—
But what do I say?—is she not exposed to incessant importunity;
a secret and ever active influence?....and may
she not yield at last? Cousin, I cannot reason upon the
subject. But these, the following, are conclusions that I
she must either love him, or not love him. If she
do not love him, she is base, or weak; and I shall never
make myself unhappy about her. And, if she do
love him, he will be either worthy of her, or not worthy
of her. If worthy of her, then she will be happy, and
that will make me happy. And if he be not—then she
will prove herself to be not the woman that I took her
for. Behold my conclusion!
Oh, I must not forget to tell you, that John has just
returned from Washington. He saw Mr. Arrinaut; and
Molton has not a more devoted friend on earth. He
said to my brother, as they parted, with tears in his
eyes, “you have wronged Molton—we have all wronged
him. He is an innocent man, so far as I am concerned;
further than that, I have nothing to say. He has convinced
me—and I take upon myself to say, that Miss
Howard.... or Miss —, her real name, I am not
permitted to tell, is a woman, fitted for the society of
queens. My sister has been with her; and, I doubt not, is
the wiser and better for it. My mother knows the
whole—she has wept over the letters that Mr. Molton
sent to her, for her own satisfaction—absolutely putting
his life into her hands—and she now speaks of Miss
Howard, as of a daughter.”
| Randolph | |