Page:Honest debtor, or, The virtuous man struggling with, rising superior to, and overcoming misfortune (1).pdf/22

( 22 ) to accept me for a father-in-law; for this does not bind him to anything."

I leave you to imagine the ſurpriſe and gratitude of Salvary at ſeeing all the trace: of his ruin done away, as it were by the ſtroke of a pen; and with what eagerneſs he came to return thanks to his benefactor He was, nevertheleſs, detained in Holland longer then he wiſhed, and the impetuous Nervin began to complain, that this man was tardy and very hard to be worked upon. At laſt, he arrived at my houſe, not yet daring to perſuade himſelf but that his happineſs was only a dream. I introduced him ſoon to his generous benefactor, with a mind impreſſed with two ſentiments equally grateful, deeply ſenſible of the father's goodneſs, and every day ſtill more captivated with the charms of the daughter; for finding in her all he had ſo much loved and ſo much regretted in Adrienne, his mind was, as it were, raviſhed with gratitude and love. He was no longer able, he ſaid, to decide which was the more ineſtimable gift of heaven; a friend like Nervin, or a wife like Juſtina.

“One regret, however, that he could not conceal, Aill hung about his mind. "Pardon me," ſaid he one day, when Nervin reproached him for having rather patience to the teſt : "pardon me, ſir, I was impatient to throw myſelf at your feet, but beſide the accounts I had to make up, I have had in leaving Holland, more than one con-