"She is naturally feeble of frame, nervous and sensitive, and these
excitements, pressing upon her, will break down her constitution
and her spirits together. Let me warn you, Mrs. Clifford, while yet
in season. Dismiss your prejudices against this young man, whether
well or ill founded, and permit your daughter to marry him. Suffer
me to assure you, Mrs. Clifford, that such an event will do more
toward her recovery than all my medicine."
"What, and see him the master of my house--he, the poor beggar-boy
that my husband fed in charity, and who turned from him with ingratitude
in his moment of difficulty, and left him to be despoiled by his
enemies? Never! never! Daughter of mine shall never be wife of his!
The serpent! to sting the hand of his benefactor!"
"My dear Mrs. Clifford, this prejudice of yours, besides being
totally unfounded, amounts to monomania. Now, I know something of
all these matters, as you should be aware; and I should be sorry to
counsel anything to you or to your family which would be either
disgraceful or injurious. So far from this young man being ungrateful,
neglectful, or suffering your husband to be preyed on by enemies,
I am of opinion that, if his counsel had been taken in this late
unhappy business, you would probably have been spared all of the
misery and nearly one half of the loss which has been incurred by
the refusal to do so."
"And so you, too, are against us, doctor? You, too, believe everything
that this young man tells you?"
"No, madam; I assure you, honestly, that I never heard a single
word from his lips in regard to this subject. It is spoken of by
everybody but himself."
"Ay! ay! the whole town knows it, and from who else but him, I
wonder? But you needn't to talk, doctor, on the subject. My mind's
made up. Edward Clifford, while I have breath to say 'No,' and a
hand to turn the lock of the door against him, shall never again
darken these doors!"
The physician was a man of too much experience to waste labor
upon a case so decidedly hopeless. He knew that no art within his
compass could cure so thorough a case of heart-blindness, and he
gave her up; but he did not give up Julia. He whispered words of
consolation into her ears, which, though vague, were yet far more
useful than physic.
"Cheer up, my daughter; be of good heart and faith. I AM SURE that
there will be some remedy provided for you, before long, which will
do you good. I have given the letter to your aunt, and she promises
to do as you wish."
It may be said, en passant, that the billet sent to me had been covered
in another to my female friend and Julia's relative; and that the
doctor, though not unconscious of the agency of this lady between
us, was yet guilty of no violation of the faith which is always
implied between the family and the physician. He might SUSPECT,
but he did not KNOW; and whatever might have been his suspicions,
he certainly did not have the most distant idea of that concession
which Julia had made, and of the course of conduct for which her
mother's persecutions had now prepared her mind.