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Rh According to the old custom, he went immediately to mother Brigitta, and, like a kind and affectionate neighbour, declared to her the honest intentions he had, in respect to her virtuous and modest daughter. The appearance of a saint or an angel, could not have delighted the good old lady, more than this joyful piece of news. She now saw her well-laid plans about to be accomplished, and her long deferred hopes gratified. She saw herself already rescued from her poverty, and again surrounded by opulence. She blessed the circumstances that induced her to leave her former habitation; and, in the first spring of joy, looking on Frank as partly the cause of this, she thought with kindness even of him. Though he had never been a favourite with her, still she promised herself to make him, by some means or other, a sharer in her prosperity.

In her heart, she regarded the marriage articles, as already signed, but decency required her to take some time for deliberation in so weighty an affair; she therefore thanked the honourable suitor for his good intentions; promised