Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 1).djvu/60

The appearance of Rhodophil and Claudina at a distance interrupted their conversation. Ferdinand arose, and walked hastily into the forest, unable to meet them in the present perturbed state of his mind. He revolved every thing Ernest had told him; he recollected a thousand little inattentions he had received; the air of protection his brother often assumed, the change in the household, his readiness to lay hold of the little inclination he had shown for the army: In short, the more he reflected, the more he was convinced no real brotherly affection existed in the bosom of Rhodophil: "Yet, (exclaimed he) did he not show us a thousand acts of kindness, when sinking under the displeasure of my father? Did he not often relieve us from want, and labour incessantly to bring about a reconciliation? And is it possible that a sudden change of fortune, being possessed of all, should make such a revolution in his principles? If so, alas! how dangerous is prosperity? What a contractor of the heart is wealth!"