Page:Duty and Inclination 1.pdf/175

Rh around him. The new discovery he had made of his having married without his approbation, was a circumstance, that even in his calmer moments he felt he never could forgive; and when he considered to whom he had thus bound himself, then indeed his animosity was raised to its utmost pitch of aggravation: he had given himself to one, who in a worldly sense, possessed not a single recommendation; but, above all, to crown his indignation, he had given himself to one who, from the ambiguity of the explanation made him during a former interview, he had been led to conclude had first stooped to that state which for ever degrades the sex; a consideration how powerfully adapted to enforce the conviction, that in despite of every temptation, incitement or seduction to overcome, nothing ought to be held so inviolably sacred, to be prized even beyond existence, as a chaste, unsullied fame!

But whilst under the influence of this gross delusion, Sir Aubrey had been occasionally tranquillized, in giving way to suggestions that afforded some mitigation to his injured pride. He had allowed himself to hope that the time might arrive when, as is frequently the case, some other favourite, possessing the charm of novelty, might withdraw his son from the fascinations which