I will not say destruction, but unquestionably to misery.
"Mrs. Mortimer had seen farther into our situation than ourselves, and had, therefore, from pure goodwill, frustrated many little plans of walks and drives, held many anxious conversations with Lady Osmond, and at length arrived at a resolution, before we set out on a journey which would necessarily throw Charles and myself more than ever together, to speak to me on the most cruel and hateful of all subjects, as the only medium of preventing me from plunging into the most irretrievable of all evils, an early and imprudent marriage.
"I will abridge my story as much as I am able. She told me I must guard myself from indulging any expectation of a marriage connexion with Charles Osmond, who was only a younger son, had been brought up to the law, and was destined by his father to practice in India so soon as he was called to the bar, which would be immediately on his return to England. 'Sir Henry,' said she, 'has a large family; even his eldest son will have a small fortune; the younger ones must be content with an education which will help them to make their own.'
"I had been told that I had a handsome fortune, and my heart swelled with the sweet, proud thought
