Alfred de Rosann — page 135: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

& 126 ALFRED DE ROSANN. “And may you forget, Miss Robson, the image of the individual who has been unfortunate enough to cause you pain: may you be united to one capable of appreciating your worth, and of insuring you that do- mestic joy which your virtues and your disposition so essentially merit.” | ‘No, Alfred—M. De Rosann—I shall not seek a change like that to which you allude. My heart can never become the property of another; and where L cannot place my affections, there must 1 not hope for solace or consolation. ’I’would bea crime to engage in the holy bonds of matrimony—’twould be practising a cheat upon a confiding husband, to return his love with indifference.” “ May you not hope, Selina, that a year—eighteen months—” “ Can change my sentiments?”’ cried Miss Robson, ~ hastily interrupting our hero, as if he were uttering a blasphemy: “Ono, no. Were you better acquainted with my character—my disposition—you would not think so lightly- of me as your remark proves you do; but you would pity the undying, the unquenchable flame that gnaws my suffering heart.’’ ‘And yet you yourself said that time could haply work a change for the better,’ observed De Rosann, alluding to the fatal day when the memorable expla- nation took place between himself and the unhappy maiden, whose misplaced affection was a scorpion her bosom had nourished to sting the most vital part. “If I thought so at the moment, | was wrong: but I probably uttered the words you refer to with the idea of dispelling your fears for my health and happiness. Since the morning on which I discovered my terrible mistake, we have kept our vows, and have not again touched upon the melancholy topic. You are now going to leave me—you are about to. be united to one whom you love—we shall be separated for ever—never more to meet in’ this world, unless by some strange accident, for it will be my duty to avoid you on ac- Gomichbooks.com