My lover
might think, perhaps, as my mother was desirous the world at large
should believe, that almost our whole fortune depended on the
precarious suit which we had come to Madrid to prosecute--a belief
which she had countenanced out of policy, being well aware that a
knowledge of my father's having remitted such a large part of his
fortune to England, would in no shape aid the recovery of further sums
in the Spanish courts. Yet, with no more extensive views of my fortune
than were possessed by the public, I believe that he, of whom I am
speaking, was at first sincere in his pretensions. He had himself
interest sufficient to have obtained a decision in our favour in the
courts, and my fortune, reckoning only what was in Spain, would then
have been no inconsiderable sum. To be brief, whatever might be his
motives or temptation for so far committing himself, he applied to my
mother for my hand, with my consent and approval. My mother's judgment
had become weaker, but her passions had become more irritable, during
her increasing illness.
"You have heard of the bitterness of the ancient Scottish feuds, of
which it may be said, in the language of Scripture, that the fathers
eat sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.
Unhappily--I should say _happily_, considering what this man has now
shown himself to be--some such strain of bitterness had divided his
house from my mother's, and she had succeeded to the inheritance of
hatred.
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