The Surgeon's Daughter

purpose of being introduced to his patron, to thank him at once, and to bid him farewell. On the road, the old man took the liberty of schooling his companion concerning the respect which

ht to the other side of the table, so that he could observe any person placed there, without becoming the subject of observation in turn. On a heap of cushions, wrapped in a glittering drapery of gold and silver muslins, mingled with shawls, a luxury wh

ire-you shall know all and everything that passes-but retire. To what purpose should you c

memory the features and the form which I am never again to behold while we are in the body? Do not, my Richard, be more cruel than was my poor father, even when his wrath w

rank and estimation in society-my honour interested that that estimation should remain uninjured. Zilia, the moment that the promulgation of such a secret gives prudes

lay hast thou fashioned us poor mortals, who dread so much the shame which follows sin, yet repent so little for the sin itself!" In a mi

rself on the neck of her son, for whom she had travailed and sorrowed. But the warning glance of her husband arrested her as if by magic, and she remained standing, with her beautiful head and neck somewhat advanced, her hands clasped together, and extended forward in the attitude of motion, but motionless, nevertheless, as a mar

hat the General did not speak, "to return my thanks to Genera

s. She sighed deeply, relaxed the rigidity of her posture, and sunk back on the cushions from which she had started up. Mi

f late-your friend, Mr. Hartley, might men

s, of course, so

ces of which we have escaped by the skill of your friend, Mr. Hartley. We will be happy if it is i

e said, "Every one must envy his friend in having had the distinguish

presume. Have you any particular wish

at I am an orphan, deserted by the parents who cast me on the wide world, an outcast about whom nobody knows or cares, exc

muslin veil closely around her head as if to e

the General; "nor do I wish to give you the pain of entering into them. Wh

-anywhere, so that there is no cha

o to India. However, to show you the knave has some grace, there are the notes of which you were robbed. You will find them the very same paper which you lost, except a small sum whi

he withdrew not his hand from his caresses. This was one o

I owe to you than to the unnatural parents, who brought me into

th a hasty movement, General Witherington flew to his lady's assistance, and carried her in his arms, as if she had been a child, into the anteroom, where an old servant waited with the means of restoring susp

ts terribly loud, considering the exhausted state of her strength-"Did you hear the words? It was Heaven speaking our condemnation

ory, or combined by her own musical talent, until at length her voice and instrument united in one of those magnificent hymns in which her youth had praised her Maker, with voice and harp, like the Royal Hebrew who composed it. The tear ebbed insensibly from the eyes which

he General precipitated himself into the apartment they had so lately left, and in his haste ran, against Middlemas, who, at the sound of the music from the adjoining apartment, had naturally approached

. He seemed to recognise his son only as the cause of his wife's death. He seized him

s thy mother-that is the unhappy Zilia Moncada, to whom thy birth was the source of shame and misery, and to whom thy ill-omened presence has now brought death itself. And behold me"-he pushed the lad from him, and stood up erect, looking wellnigh in gesture and figure

ral's frantic discourse, the nature of the disclosure which had occurred, he hastened to put an end, if possible, to the frightful and scandalous scene which had taken place. Aware how delicately

itherington. "It shall not be again said of me, that I fear shame mor

emory of your wife, in which the cha

the angel who has now escaped from the earth in a flood of harmony, which can only be equalled where she is gon

d with sullen resentment-"Your son by your wedded wife. Pale as she lies there, I call

of death and frenzy? My son?-thou art the fiend who has occasioned my wretchedness in this world,

h him, he twisted himself out of their grasp, ran to the stables, and seizing the first saddled horse that he found, out of many that had been in haste got ready to seek for assistance, he threw himself on its back, and rode furiously off. Hartley was about to

r, "and is capable of any thing in his fits. These

he had no hope of overtaking, and who he believed was safe in his own keeping, however violent mig

ng furiously-"Rejoice, my treasures-rejoice!-He has fled, who would proclaim your father's crime, and your mother's dishonour!-He has fled, never to return, whose li

pproached, and placing himself before the unhappy man, fixed his eye firmly on the Ge

rush past him. But Hartley, seizing him by the collar of his coat on

high treason? Dog, th

ngth and resolution might not perhaps have saved his life, had not W

said; "use me civilly-and let

id Hartley; "follow us instantly,

child, with the air of one who is suf

inciples," he said-"I am w

patient the ascendency he had acquired. He caused him to be led to his apartment, and beheld him suffer himself to be put to bed. Admini

Hartley drew near his bedside, he knew him perfectly, and said, "Do not fear me-the fit is over-leave me now, and see after yonder unfortunate. Let him

my master's security at present; but in Heaven's name, pr