power to control her inclinations, nor influence to effect a change in habits she had long since ceased to think vicious or blamable: Therefore, after a long conversation, in which she avowed her partiality for Heli, and a decided preference for his tenets of religion, Ferdinand left them to their own determinations, recommending to both constancy in their attachment, and the practise of good actions towards others. He added a few words of advice to Fatima in German, and concluded with assuring her, that if she should ever want a friend, the daughter of a respected father should always claim his attention and assistance.
When retired to his apartment, he was painfully affected by the recollection of such circumstances in the story of Fatima, as convinced him that his wife Claudina must have been that sister she mentioned, and the daughter of the officer by a woman his father had once been connected with. He shuddered at the idea. Yet surely, he thought, there cannot be that degree of consanguinity
