My father sighed, thinking, I know, of his own vain wish to see me happily married.

At last I could bear it no longer, and calling Sweep, I went out into the garden.

It was moonlight, and Maria was languidly pacing the terrace.

I joined her, and we strolled away into the shrubbery.
I cannot say that my father's warning led me to shun Maria's society.
My father and my aunt naturally talked together, and circumstances almost forced us two into _tete-a-tetes_.

I could not fail to see that Maria liked to be with me, and I found the task of taking care of her soothing to what I believed to be my blighted feelings.