Page:The Adventures of David Simple (1904).djvu/273

 me by the hand, and sighing said, "Oh, my son! I have ruined you and the best of wives at once: you know the long and faithful friendship I have had for Monsieur, and the great obligations I owe him. After you were separated from me in order to follow your studies, he married a young and beautiful lady, whom he was so fond of he could deny her nothing. She was one of those gay ladies who never thought herself so happy as when she was lavishing her husband's fortune on her own extravagance; by this means she soon brought him into the most distressed state imaginable; he had a growing family, and no means of supporting them. I could not bear to see his misery, and presently relieved it: I did this once or twice; but he had so much generosity, and so strong a resolution, that he absolutely refused to drag me down to ruin and perdition with him. He obstinately persisted in what he thought right, and I, on the other hand, was fully bent never to let him sink without sharing his misfortunes. In short, I by degrees underhand sold almost everything I was worth, and conveyed it to him in such a manner that he never knew from whom it came. If God had been pleased to have spared my life, I intended to have got you a post in the army, and had a scheme in my head which I thought could not fail to have made some provision for your mother; but it is now at an end, my strength fails me, and I can do no more. Farewell for ever!As you are young, if you can make any struggle in the world, cherish and take care of my wife!" At these words he ceased speaking, and breathed his last in my arms.' "At this description, Dorimene and I both burst into tears, in spite of our utmost endeavours to prevent it; which stopped the Chevalier Dumont's narration for a few minutes, when, on our earnest treaties, he thus proceeded:—