Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 1).djvu/23

 would be as necessary as it was becoming in a young man of spirit and honour; therefore he only hoped, "that his dear young master would do nothing rashly, but wait until his wife and children could have some certain independence secured to them."

"How! (replied Ferdinand) would you have me limit my brother's bounty, or seem to doubt his generosity and kindness? How contemptible should I appear in his eyes by a bare suggestion, by the remotest hint, that I wished for any certainty more than what I may rely on from his affection and generosity, so recently proved on an occasion, where not one out of a million would have conducted themselves with that nobleness of spirit, that true fraternal affection Count Rhodophil has manifested."

"I presume not, Sir," answered Ernest, respectfully, "to dictate, or even to advise you; but, nevertheless, as we are all mortal, subject every hour to be suddenly deprived