Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 3).djvu/129

 niary obligations from a stranger, would always find his arms and purse open to his wishes."

This letter, the tenor of which seemed so affectionate, was nevertheless worded with a stiffness and a sort of haughty upbraiding, an air of superiority that alarmed the pride of Ferdinand, and again recalled to his mind the scene which passed immediately following the death of his father, when he was told, "that he was to be an equal sharer" in that fortune, solely bequeathed to Count Rhodophil, and the servants were ordered to remember they had two masters."Ah! thought Ferdinand, in that moment, sorrow had softened his heart to the ties of nature, and a resolution to make me some reparation for the disappointment he supposed I must feel; but power and prosperity soon changed his sentiments, and chased the tender affections from his heart. He soon exulted in his superiority, and found gratification in ostentatiously bestowing as favors,