Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 3).djvu/117

 singular trio, two wives, and one intended to make a third.

"Upon my word," said Count M, "I know not which to admire most, the temerity, or the villainy of the man. Such unprecedented baseness in the same province, among his own acquaintance, where so many doubtful circumstances must have appeared against him, had any particular inquiry been set on foot, is truly astonishing." "It would have been more so," observed Ferdinand, "had not many points coincided in his favour. Mr. Hautweitzer's assertions before the old Count and the company, bore no proofs of the marriage which the young one disclaimed. He represented Louisa as his mistress; his father and uncle doubtless believed her to be such. She could adduce no evidence to prove the contrary. Therefore, though his connexion with her was reprehensible, even from his own acknowledgment, yet it bore not the marks of guilt attending a double marriage; nor had his lady sufficient conviction to authorize her withdrawing herself