The English colonel exhibited a proper portion of uneasiness at
this unexpected interruption of his felicity, and he sat with a varying
countenance by the side of Sarah, who seemed to be profiting by the
delay to gather fortitude for the solemn ceremony. In the midst of this
embarrassing silence, Doctor Sitgreaves addressed himself to Miss
Peyton, by whose side he had contrived to procure a chair. "Marriage,
madam, is pronounced to be honorable in the sight of God and man; and it
may be said to be reduced, in the present age, to the laws of nature and
reason. The ancients, in sanctioning polygamy, lost sight of the
provisions of nature, and condemned thousands to misery; but with the
increase of science have grown the wise ordinances of society, which
ordain that man should be the husband of but one woman."
Wellmere glanced a fierce expression of disgust at the surgeon, that
indicated his sense of the tediousness of the other's remarks; while
Miss Peyton, with a slight hesitation, as if fearful of touching on
forbidden subjects, replied,--
"I had thought, sir, that we were indebted to the Christian religion
for our morals on this subject."
"True, madam, it is somewhere provided in the prescriptions of the
apostles, that the sexes should henceforth be on an equality in this
particular.
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