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.

JANE TALBOT. 185
distracted and sleepless during most of the night. Towards morning she sat down to her desk, and finished a
letter, which, together with one written a couple of days
before, was despatched to me.
My heart throbbed-I was going to say with transport;
but I am at a loss to say whether anguish or delight was
uppermost on reading these letters. She recalls every
promise of eternal separation; she consents to immediate
marriage as the only wise expedient; proposes ten o'clock
this night to join our hands; will conceal her purpose
from her mother, and resigns to me the providing of
suitable means.
I was overwhelmed with surprise and-shall I not say?
— delight at this unexpected concession. An immediate
and consenting answer was required. I hurried to give
this answer, but my tumultuous feelings would not let
me write coherently. I was obliged to lay down the pen,
and take a turn across the room to calm my tremors.
This gave me time to reflect.
" What," thought I, " am I going to do? To take advawntage of a momentary impulse in my favour. To violate
my promises to Mrs. Fielder: my letter to her may be construed into promises not to seek another interview with
Jane, and to leave the country forever. And shall I betray this impetuous woman into an irrevocable act, which
her whole future life may be unavailingly consumed in
repenting? Some delay, some deliberation, cannot be
inj urious.
"And yet this has always been my advice. Shall I
reject the hand that is now offered me? How will
she regard these new-born scruples, this drawing back
when the door spontaneously opens and solicits my entrance?
"Is it, in my power to make Jane Talbot mine? my
wife? And shall I hesitate? Ah! would to Heaven it were
a destiny as fortunate for her as for me!-that no tears,
no repinings, no compunctions, would follow! Should I
not curse the hour of our union when I heard her sighs?
and, instead of affording consolation under the distress
produced by her mother's displeasure, should I not need
that consolation as much as she?"
16*