"
Vesta shook her head.
"There is no separation but one," she said, "when Heaven has been called
down to the marriage solemnity. It is before that act that we must
consider everything. How could I make you happy? My own happiness I will
dismiss. Yours must then comprehend mine. Kindness might make me
grateful, but gratitude will not satisfy your love."
"Yes," exclaimed Milburn, chasing up his advantage with tremulous ardor;
"the long famine of my heart will be thankful for a dry crust and a cup
of ice. Here at the fireside let me sit and warm, and hear the rustle of
your dress, and grow in heavenly sensibility. You will redeem a savage,
you will save a soul!"
"It is not the price I must pay to do this, I would have you consider,
sir," Vesta replied, with her attention somewhat arrested by his
intensity; "it is the price you are paying--your self-respect,
perhaps--by the terms on which you obtain me. It may never be known out
of this family that I married you for the sake of my father and mother.
But how am I to prevent you from remembering it, especially when you say
that I am the sum of your purest wishes? If your interest would consume
after you obtained me, we might, at least, be indifferent; but if it
grew into real love, would you not often accuse yourself?"
Meshach Milburn sat down, cast his large brown eyes upon the floor, and
listened in painful reflection.
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