"
"Really, sir, the ladies are infinitely obliged to you, for attributing
folly to them as part of their nature."
"Captain Lawton, in man the animal is more nobly formed than in woman.
The nerves are endowed with less sensi bility; the whole frame is less
pliable and yielding; is it therefore surprising, that a tendency to
rely on the faith of her partner is more natural to woman than to the
other sex?"
Wellmere, as if unable to listen with any degree of patience to so
ill-timed a dialogue, sprang from his seat and paced the floor in
disorder. Pitying his situation, the reverend gentleman, who was
patiently awaiting the return of Caesar, changed the discourse, and a
few minutes brought the black himself. The billet was handed to Dr.
Sitgreaves; for Miss Peyton had expressly enjoined Caesar not to
implicate her, in any manner, in the errand on which he was dispatched.
The note contained a summary statement of the several subjects of the
surgeon's directions, and referred him to the black for the ring. The
latter was instantly demanded, and promptly delivered. A transient look
of melancholy clouded the brow of the surgeon, as he stood a moment, and
gazed silently on the bauble; nor did he remember the place, or the
occasion, while he mournfully soliloquized as follows:--
"Poor Anna! gay as innocence and youth could make thee was thy heart,
when this cincture was formed to grace thy nuptials; but ere the hour
had come, God had taken thee to Himself.
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