Page:Duty and Inclination 1.pdf/224

216 "It is enough," said Mrs. De Brooke, at last finding words; "I shall dispute the point no longer; but I shall carry away with me a heart overcharged; think you my children are dearer to me than yourself? That pure affection we acknowledged, springing from a source Divine, is the fundamental cause that our children are now in being; they present to us an external living evidence of our conjugal union, registered in heaven. Subordinate to it the maternal tie. Oh! who more than myself can feel the powerful influence, the claims of those precious innocents upon my affections! Reflect a moment, inwardly reflect, and you cannot but draw the inference, that however indispensable duties are attached to either, the conjugal must hold the precedence."

"Incomparable woman!" exclaimed De Brooke, "excellent wife! such elevated, such superior reasoning, can it fail to convince me? who could resist its force? What are my griefs? they fade to my view in the superlative happiness of possessing, thee! Blessed are my children, infinitely blessed in possessing such a mother! Oh! could my father hear the heavenly eloquence of her tongue!"

The door burst open; the little Aubrey springing forward, exclaimed, "Robert says we are to stay here; how glad I am, papa, that we are not