Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 4).djvu/237

 father, exactly (said she, addressing Ferdinand) as you proceeded with respect to Claudina. This Gentleman, Mr. Keilheim and myself, were the witnesses to the marriage, which was private in her own house."

"Who was the priest?" demanded the Count.

"Mr. Reinheim, of Baden, who died soon after Charlotte was born, which gave the Count courage to comply with his father's commands, and marry the mother of Rhodophil. He represented to my poor mistress that a discovery of her marriage would ruin him, as he had no fortune to support her; but that, if she would be content to live as she had done, and permit him to marry, she would always be conscious of her own innocence, always enjoy his love, and he would make ample provision for her children.

"She foolishly consented rather than injure the man she loved. He married a wife he never liked, and was constant in his love to my mistress, 'till unluckily, Ferdinand's