The novels of Charles Brockden Brown, consisting of Wieland;or, The transformation. Arthur Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the year 1793. Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a sleep-walker. Jane Talbot. Ormond; or, The secret witness. Clara Howard; or, The enthusiasm of love. With a memoir of the author.

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ORMOND; OR,

Constantia was thunderstruck with this intelligence.
She looked at him with some expression of doubt.
"How is this?" said she. "Why did you not tell me
this before?"
"When I last talkedwith you on this subject, I knew
it not myself. It has occurred since. I have seized
the first occasion that has offered to inform you of it.
Say now, since such is my condition, ought Helena to
be my wife?"
Constantia was silent. Her heart bled for what she
foresaw would be the sufferings and forlorn destiny of
Helena. She had not courage to inquire further into
this new engagement.
" I wait for your answer, Constantia. Shall I defraud
myself of all the happiness which would accrue from a
match of inclination? Shall I put fetters on my usefulness? This is the style in which you speak. Shall I
preclude all the good to others that would flow from a
suitable alliance? Shall I abjure the woman I love, and
marry her whom I hate?"
"Hatred," replied the lady, " is a harsh word. Helena
has not deserved that you should hate her. I own this
is a perplexing circumstance. It would be wrong to determine hastily. Suppose you give yourself to Helena:
will more than yourself be injured by it? Who is this
lady? Will she be rendered unhappy by a determination in favour of another? This is a point of the utmost
importance."
At these words, Ormond forsook his seat and advanced
close up to Constantia: —" You say true. This is a point
of inexpressible importance. It would be presumption in
me to decide. That is the lady's own province. And
now, say truly, are you willing to accept Ormond with
all his faults? Who but yourself could be mistress of
all the springs of my soul? I know the sternness of
your probity. This discovery will only make you more
strenuously the friend of Helena. Yet why should you
not shun either extreme? Lay yourself out of view.
And yet, perhaps, the happiness of Constantia is not
unconcerned in this question. Is there no part of me in