Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/53

 were in the other misapplied to sordid and flagitious purposes.

"Arthur Wiatte (that was his name) had ever been the object of his sister's affection: as long as he existed, she never ceased to labour in the promotion of his happiness. All her kindness was repaid by a stern and inexorable hatred. This man was an exception to all the rules which govern us in our judgments of human nature: he exceeded in depravity all that has been imputed to the arch-foe of mankind. His wickedness was without any of those remorseful intermissions, from which it has been supposed that the deepest guilt is not entirely exempt: he seemed to relish no food but pure, unadulterated evil; he rejoiced in proportion to the depth of that distress of which he was the author.

"His sister, by being placed most within the reach of his enmity, experienced its worst effects: she was the subject on which, by being acquainted with the means of influencing her happiness, he could try his malignant experiments with most hope of success. Her parents being high in rank and wealth, the marriage of their daughter was, of course, an object of anxious attention. There is no event on which our felicity and usefulness more materially depend, and with regard to which, therefore, the freedom of choice, and the exercise of our own understanding, ought to be less infringed: but this maxim is commonly disregarded in proportion to the elevation of our rank and the extent of our property.

"The lady made her own election; but she was one of those who acted on a comprehensive plan, and would not admit her private inclination to dictate her decision: the happiness of others, though founded on mistaken views, she did not consider as unworthy of her regard. The choice was such as was not likely to obtain the parental sanction, to whom the moral qualities of their son-in-law, though not absolutely weightless in the balance, were greatly inferior to the considerations of wealth and dignity.

"The brother set no value on any thing but the means of luxury and power: he was astonished at that perverseness which entertained a different conception of happiness from