her son. Birth, fortune, in the prime of manhood, of a pleasing and polished exterior; what though her son had scarcely emerged from adolescense, and might boast of a more florid and fresh countenance; would such, with Rosilia, preponderate in the balance? How in an affair of such moment to the future happiness of her son, was it to be supposed she could take part with and favour a stranger? act in direct contradiction to, and throw a final destruction upon, the hopes and views of her son, cherished since his years of childhood,—a being so beloved, so idolized. After thus reflecting, she resumed the discourse with precipitation. "Sir," said she, "I am very sorry to have kept you so long in suspense, since your frank address to me demanded a like return; I ought ere this to have informed you that Miss Rosilia De Brooke is no longer at her own disposal, having from an early period of her youth engaged herself; and hopes, by the kind indulgence of her parents, to obtain at last their consent to a union with—with my son."
The countenance of Harcourt, recently flushed by the ardour of hope, suddenly exhibited the palid and melancholy hues of death. His knees tottered, his whole frame shook with convulsive agony. He inarticulately muttered, "pursuing a shadow, a phantom has deluded me!
