Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 1).djvu/147

 fore," cried Ferdinand, "the want of birth and riches is no crime in the sight of God; I married unknown to my father, that was a sin against his authority; but can it be a crime of that magnitude to draw down the displeasure of Heaven?"

"Oh! yes, if it provoked a father's malediction, it rendered both criminal, and I am the wretched victim; I am singled out from hundreds who have committed the same error, the same unpardonable act of disobedience, to be held up as a pharos to warn unthinking youth of the miseries attending a too hasty connexion unsanctioned by a parent's approbation. Oh! my father, I am indeed severely punished!"

This apostrophe drove Rhodophil from the room; he could not support the sight of his brother's distress. Ernest immediately entered; the afflicted heart clings for consolation to the first sympathizing friend; the old man was shocked to see him; he rested his head on the shoulder of Ernest, whilst he repeated what had happened in Claudina's