Page:Modern Literature Volume 3 (1804).djvu/240

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

her an acknowledgment of reciprocal love; but still she adhered to her protestation, that she could not accept his offer. The baronet, unable to discover her objection, at length resolved to request the assistance of her brother in removing her scruples. Informed by his friend of all that had passed, our hero repaired to his sister; and, after a long conversation, he, from her affection and confidence, learned her objection to an union with a man whose passion she requited. Charlotte had conceived a notion that a young woman not only should bestow with her hand her heart, but also a heart that never had felt love for another. This romantic refinement of sentiment, her understanding, acute and powerful as it was, could not conquer. Prizing Sir Edward so very highly, she fancied that her affections, though now devoted to him, yet having