"
"God bless my soul!" said Mr. Damer; and by this time they had arrived
at Shepheard's Hotel.
"Oh, mamma," said Fanny, as soon as she found herself alone with her
mother that evening, "I have something that I must tell you."
"Oh, Fanny, don't tell me anything to-night, for I am a great deal too
tired to listen."
"But oh, mamma, pray;--you must listen to this; indeed you must." And
Fanny knelt down at her mother's knee, and looked beseechingly up into
her face.
"What is it, Fanny? You know that all my bones are sore, and I am so
tired that I am almost dead."
"Mamma, Mr. Ingram has--"
"Has what, my dear? has he done anything wrong?"
"No, mamma: but he has;--he has proposed to me." And Fanny, bursting
into tears, hid her face in her mother's lap.
And thus the story was told on both sides of the house. On the next
day, as a matter of course, all the difficulties and dangers of such a
marriage as that which was now projected were insisted on by both
father and mother. It was improper; it would cause a severing of the
family not to be thought of; it would be an alliance of a dangerous
nature, and not at all calculated to insure happiness; and, in short,
it was impossible.
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