Page:Affecting history of an inn-keeper in Normandy.pdf/18

(18) I expect you are to comply with his deſires."—"My dear father (replied ſhe trembling), I never did intend to marry Philander without giving you previous information; and ſince you have now mentioned ſuch an affair, I ingenuouſly confeſs that I love him above every other perſon; and my affection, by its long continuance, is too deeply rooted to be eradicated; beſides, as I live in a land of liberty, you will ſurely not deny me the privilege of the irrationals, namely, the freedom of choice, as I am now arrived at a time of life capable of judging for myſelf: But, above all, I beg you will conſider that I have engaged myſelf, by the ſtrongeſt promiſes, to be his for life; and I have heard it ſaid, "that a young man and woman who have come under free, voluntary, mutual promiſes, whether verbal or written, are actually married, even though they ſhould never come together, and the defaulter, if ever married, lives in adultery. Surely you would not then be guilty of making me the perpetrator of ſuch a deteſtable crime?"—Talk not (anſwered he with ſome warmth) of promiſes, or any ſuch fantaſtic abſurdities; I tell you nothing is in the ſmalleſt degree binding, till once the parties have joined hands before the parſon: Promiſes! a pretty ftory truly! a parcel of chimerical notions you have got into your brain. Such fellows as Philander, who are poſſeſſed of a large