. Frank Mildmay, : or, The naval officer . at liberty to mentionit to me ; but it sufficiently accounts for his astonishmentat my seeming indifference ; for the two worthy parentshad naturally concluded that it was a match. Confounded and bewildered by my asseveration, myfather knew not whose veracity to impeach; but, charit-ably concluding there was some mistake, or that I was, asheretofore, a fickle, thoughtless being, considered himselfbound in honour to communicate the substance of ourconversation to Mr Somerville; and the latter no soonerreceived it, than he placed the letter in Emilys ha
. Frank Mildmay, : or, The naval officer . at liberty to mentionit to me ; but it sufficiently accounts for his astonishmentat my seeming indifference ; for the two worthy parentshad naturally concluded that it was a match. Confounded and bewildered by my asseveration, myfather knew not whose veracity to impeach; but, charit-ably concluding there was some mistake, or that I was, asheretofore, a fickle, thoughtless being, considered himselfbound in honour to communicate the substance of ourconversation to Mr Somerville; and the latter no soonerreceived it, than he placed the letter in Emilys hands—avery comfortable kind of avant-courier for a lover, after anabsence from his mistress of full three years. I arrived at the hall, bursting with impatience to see thelovely girl, whose hold on my heart and affection wasinfinitely stronger than I had ever supposed. Dartingfrom the chaise, I flew into the sitting-room, where sheusually passed her morning. I was now in my twenty-second year; my figure was decidedly of a handsome cast;. The Naval Officer 213 my face, what I knew most women admired. My personaladvantages were heightened by the utmost attention todress ; the society of the fair Acadians had very muchpolished my manners, and I had no more of the profes-sional roughness of the sea than what, like the crust onthe port-wine, gave an agreeable flavour; my countenancewas as open and as ingenuous as my heart was deceitfuland desperately wicked. Emily rose with much agitation, and in an instant wasclasped in my arms : not that the movement was voluntaryon her part; it was wholly on mine. She rather recoiled ;but for an instant seemed to have forgotten the fatal com-munication which her father had made to her not twohours before. She allowed me—perhaps she could notprevent it—to press her to my heart. She soon, however,regained her presence of mind, and, gently disengagingherself, gave vent to her feelings in a violent flood of tears. Not at the time recollecting th
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