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.

80 ORMOND; OR,
"My dear father, how good you are! but that shall
be my province. If I err, let the consequences of my
mistake be confined to myself. It would be cruel indeed
to make you the instrument in a transaction which your
judgment disapproves. My reluctance-was a weak and
foolish thing. Strange, indeed, if the purity of my motives will not bear me out on this, as it has done on
many more arduous occasions!"
"Well, be it so; that is best, I believe. Ten to one
but I, with my want of eyes, would blunder, while yours
will be of no small use in a contest with a lover. They
will serve you to watch the transitions in his placid physiognomy, and overpower his discontents."
She was aware of the inconveniences to which this
resolution would subject her; but, since they were unavoidable, she armed herself with the requisite patience.
Her apprehensions were not without reason. More
than one conference was necessary to convince him of
her meaning, and in order to effect her purpose she was
obliged to behave with so much explicitness as to hazard
giving him offence. This affair was productive of no
small vexation. IHe had put too much faith in the
validity of his pretensions, and the benefits of perseverance, to be easily shaken off.
This decision was not borne by him with as much
patience as she wished. He deemed himself unjustly
treated, and his resentment exceeded those bounds of
moderation which he prescribed to himself on all other
occasions. From his anger, however, there was not
much to be dreaded; but, unfortunately, his sister partook of his indignation, and indulged her petulance,
which was enforced by every gossiping and tattling propensity, to the irreparable disadvantage of Constantia.
She owed her support to her needle. She was dependent, therefore, on the caprice of customers. This caprice was swayable by every breath, and paid a merely
subordinate regard, in the choice of workwomen, to the
circumstances of skill, cheapness, and diligence. In consequence of this, her usual sources of subsistence began
to fail.
Indigence, as well as wealth, is comparative. He in