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308 In estimating the strength and devotedness of fraternal affection there exhibited, the mind of De Brooke naturally recurred to the similitude of relation and situation, unaccompanied with the corresponding affections, that existed between Mrs. Arden and himself. On the one hand, he beheld an instance of brotherly love and tenderness increasing from youth to maturity, and strengthening amidst the trials of adversity; on the other, he saw the picture reversed. There he contemplated a heinous offence, atoned for in some manner by unparalleled affection; here, the absence of actual evil, supplied by no positive demonstration of good. Cheerfully, for the sake of a sister and her sick husband, the true brother had suffered imprisonment; while, "sick and in prison", he had long languished, and yet might have lain, ere—sister but in name—his father's daughter had once deigned to visit him. How differently would he have acted if, under similar circumstances, their situation had been reversed! He blushed not to think that his own conduct in such a case would of the two rather have resembled that of the Baronet to his sister, than of Mrs. Arden to himself. If there was much to condemn in the practice, there was also much to admire in the motive. If severe justice forbade him to excuse,