Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 4).djvu/108

 generosity: And will you deny the poor Louisa the heart-felt satisfaction of imitating, as well as she can, so bright an example?—But to do away every idea of any obligation to me, I own to you, my dear friends, that was I a parent, had I a child to inherit from the claims I might bring forward, then, I should feel it a duty to assert them; but to wrong the Countess, married in the face of the world, to disinherit a lawful heir, for such is your son; to throw the estates and titles into a very distant branch of the family, to the prejudice of his own child, merely for a temporary advantage to myself—never, never, can I think of it! And after all, what merit is there in giving up claims which the uncertainty of the law might long with-hold, and, perhaps, deny me at last for want of sufficient proofs."

"Those arguments of Louisa, which I think I have pretty exactly repeated," continued Mr. D'Alenberg, "seemed unanswerable; the Countess had only to oppose