Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 1).djvu/19

 kill her (cried he:) Sure, if ever deception was pardonable, it may be now; yet how dearly have I already paid for the violation of truth! Heaven pardon me, for I must deceive her. Alas! one deviation from rectitude is productive of innumerable errors which spring from each other, and plunge us rapidly into guilt!" He entered the house at the very moment when his unfortunate wife had given birth to a daughter. The intelligence pierced his heart: "Another burden on the bounty of a brother!" exclaimed he, softly as he passed to the room where his Claudina lay. The sight of her instantly banished every idea, but anxiety for her safety.

He flew to her, "My love! my wife!" She fixed her feeble eyes upon him: "I am become a mother to another poor unfortunate. Ah! Ferdinand, have you found a father?" What a dagger to the heart of her husband was this question!