Page:Duty and Inclination. Volume 3.pdf/312

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310
DUTY AND INCLINATION.

with the religious sanctity of her feelings. He who was to act as officiating minister, and now the acknowledged relation of Mrs. De Brooke, was written to by the General, in order to inform him of the combination of pleasing events that had arisen in his family; and also to hasten his coming, for the purpose of joining the happy couple, and of participating in the general satisfaction reigning amongst them.

The worthy Doctor, rejoicing at the information, determined to set off with all dispatch for the mansion of Mrs. Boville; there to tender in person his affectionate felicitations to Mrs. De Brooke on account of the delightful discovery of his being her cousin; and after which, to act in his official capacity of uniting her blooming daughter to the much-admired and noble Lord Deloraine.

The moment he received the gratifying intelligence, he made a new will, nominating his cousin, Mrs. De Brooke, his principal inheritor,—for reasons not more of esteem and affection than of her being his nearest relation; nor were the parents of Philimore forgotten, bequeathing them a legacy. To the fair sisters Oriana and Rosilia, his second cousins, he left £10,000 each, intending to bestow the portion designed for the latter as a wedding gift on his part; to which the General would have added a few thousands, but His Lordship would not listen to any such donation: amply endowed himself in the fair object bestowed upon him, his dearest and most devout