Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/339

, what a shocking view does it present! I see her ruin before me. Night and day it haunts my imagination. A foreboding voice incessantly whispers, that if she ever returns to her father's house, she will return dishonoured and disgraced. O may I ere then be laid beside her angel mother in the silent grave!"

After a considerable pause, Mrs Mason addressed herself to the afflicted father. She could not in conscience say, that his fears were groundless; but she endeavoured to chequer them with hope, assuring him, that the time would come when his daughter would learn to prize the blessings of domestic happiness, and that the good principles she had imbibed in youth, would, in the mean time, prevent her from straying far from the path of duty. At Mr Stewart's request, she promised to remain at Gowan-brae, until Mr and Mrs Mollins returned from Mount Flinders, and then to take an opportunity of speaking to Mrs Mollins on the subject of her future plans.