"That situation is now changed, and though perhaps I may err against the common rules of decorum, yet I hope Miss D'Allenberg will not condemn me if I am solicitous to know whether my future destiny is to be happy or wretched; if my kind stars ordain the former, then my anxiety is removed; if on the contrary I am to be unfortunate, the sooner I fly from hence the better.
"Need I add, Madam, that you are the arbitress of that destiny, that on you must rest all my hopes of future bliss? If you will deign to admit me a candidate for your favour, if no happier man has superseded me, and rendered all my hopes of felicity successless, if you will permit me to dedicate my future life to the delightful study of rendering your's happy, then indeed I may congratulate myself on being the most fortunate of mankind; the wounds which have been given by the hands of those I loved and trusted, and which yet rankle in my bosom, you only can heal, and from you I would derive that peace which the world has hitherto denied to me."
