Here the young gentleman
quarrels with his uncle in taking the part of the young lady, and thereby
is disinherited of vast wealth. Then the young lady, under the most
terrible circumstances, takes steps of a nature that not one woman in
five hundred would have done to restore to him that wealth. Whether or no
those steps will ultimately prove successful I do not know, and, if I
did, like Herodotus, I should prefer not to say; but whether the wealth
comes or goes, it is impossible but that a sense of mutual confidence and
a mutual respect and admiration--that is, if a more quiet thing,
certainly, also, a more enduring thing, than mere 'love'--must and will
result from them. Mr. Meeson, you are indeed a fortunate man. In Miss
Smithers you are going to marry beauty, courage, and genius, and if you
will allow an older man of some experience to drop the official and give
you a word of advice, it is this: always try to deserve your good
fortune, and remember that a man who, in his youth, finds such a woman,
and is enabled by circumstances to marry her, is indeed--
_Smiled on by Joy, and cherished of the Gods._
"And now I will end my sermon, and wish you both health and happiness and
fulness of days," and he drank off his glass of champagne, and looked so
pleasant and kindly that Augusta longed to kiss him on the spot, and as
for Eustace, he shook hands with him warmly, and then and there a
friendship began between the two which endures till now.
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