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 Mollins is quite a gentleman; a man of fortune too. Miss Stewart has had great luck, I assure you; but it was very sly of her to get married without telling me."

My father, without taking any notice of Mrs Flinders, advanced towards Bell, and taking her hand in a solemn manner—"Isabell," said he, "infatuated girl that you are, listen to me, I conjure you. By the laws of this country, you have it now in your power, by acknowledging a marriage with this man, to fix yourself upon him as his wife. But think, I beseech you, before you ratify the sentence of your own misery. For what but misery can be the consequence of a union, which substitutes a falsehood for the marriage vow and which, by the manner of it, proclaims to the world, that the woman had ceased to respect herself!"

Mollins here began to bluster; but my father silenced him, and proceeded, while Bell wept, and sobbed aloud. "My Isabell, my dear child, have I then been so