( 440 )
to believe—" She stopt, extremely embarrassed.
"Vanity," said he, "is out of the question, after what has just passed; spare then, I beseech, your own candour, as well as my suspense, all unnecessary pain."
"I entreat, I conjure you, Sir," cried Ellis, now greatly agitated, "speak only of my commission!"
"Certainly," he answered, "this is not the period I should have chosen, for venturing upon so delicate—I had nearly said so perilous a subject; but, so imperiously called upon, I could neither be insincere, nor pusillanimous enough, to disavow a charge which every feeling rose to confess!—Otherwise—just now,—my judgment, my sense of propriety,—all in the dark as I am—would sedulously, scrupulously have constrained my forbearance, till I knew—" He stopt, paused, and then expressively, yet gently added, "to whom I addressed myself!"
