"Blessing!" cried she, indignantly; "can you call a reluctant hand, a heart devoted to another, and a lifeless form that will shrink with horror from an union imposed upon her by a stern parent, who to an unjust prejudice would sacrifice his daughter; can you call such a sacrifice a blessing? See, see me at your feet (added she, endeavouring to prostrate herself, which I prevented:) I beseech, I implore you, not to persist in your addresses; respect your own happiness, if you cannot feel for mine, misery must follow a compulsion so repugnant to my soul."
At this moment her father entered the room: She threw herself at his feet in an agony, "Father, my dear father! by that tender name I conjure you to hear me! To your commands I have given up the dearest wishes of my heart; I have sworn never to marry the Count without your approbation; do not compel me to be miserable with another; never, never can I love the Baron as a husband: I esteem, I honour him as your preserver; I would lay down my life to
