Guy Mannering.

GUY MANNERING. 201
is faithful. His addresses to me were countenanced by
my deceased parent; imprudently countenanced perhaps,
considering the prejudices of my father in favour of birth
andl ank. But I, then almost a girl, could not be expected surely to be wiser than she, under whose chaige
nature had placed me. i3y father, constantly engaged
in military duty, I saw but at rare intervals, and was
taught to look up to him with more awe than confidence.
WVould to Heaven it had been otherwise! It might have
been better for us all at this day! "
THIRD EXTRACT.
"You ask me why I do not make known to my father
that Brown yet lives, at least that he survived the wound
he received in that unhappy duel; and had written
to my mother, expressing his entire convalescence, and
his hope of speedily escaping from captivity. A soldier,
that' in the trade of war has oft slain men,' feels probably
no uneasiness at reflecting upon the supposed catastrophe,
which almost turned me into stone. And should I show
him that letter, does it not follow, that Brown, alive and
maintaining with pertinacity the pretensions to the affections of your poor friend, for which my father formerly
sought his life, would be a more formidable disturber of
Colonel Mannering's peace of mind than his supposed
grave? If he escapes from the hands of these marauders,
I am convinced he will soon be in England, and it will be
then time to consider how his existence is to be disclosed
to my father.-But if, alas! my earnest and confident
hopes should betray me, what would it avail to tear open
a mystery fraught with so many painful recollections?My dear mother had such dread of its being known, that
I think she even suffered my father to suspect that