Surely I am not harsh to you now ?" "Papa," she replied, wiping her eyes, "the confidence which you solicit, it is not in my power to bestow.

Do not, therefore, press me on this subject.

It is enough that I have already confessed to you that my affections are engaged.

I will now add what perhaps I ought to have added before, that this was with the sanction of my dear mamma.

Indeed, I would have said so, but that I was reluctant to occasion reflections from you incompatible with my affection for her memory." "Your mother, madam," he added, his face blackening into the hue of his natural temper, "was always a poor, weak-minded woman.