"Your blessing!--give me your blessing, and then I shall know that you are indeed my father!" cried Virginia, kneeling to him, and looking up with an enthusiastic expression of filial piety in her countenance.

"G.o.d bless you, my sweet child!" said he, laying his hand upon her; "and G.o.d forgive your father!"

"My grandmother died without giving me her blessing," said Virginia; "but now I have been blessed by my father! Happy, happy moment!--O that she could look down from heaven, and see us at this instant!"

Virginia was so much astonished and overpowered by this sudden discovery of a parent, and by the novelty of his first caresses, that after the first violent effervescence of her sensibility was over, she might, to an indifferent spectator, have appeared stupid and insensible. Mrs.

Ormond, though far from an indifferent spectator, was by no means a penetrating judge of the human heart: she seldom saw more than the external symptoms of feeling, and she was apt to be rather impatient with her friends if theirs did not accord with her own.

"Virginia, my dear," said she, in rather a reproachful tone, "Mr.

Hervey, you see, has left the room, on purpose to leave you at full liberty to talk to your father; and I am going--but you are so silent!"

"I have so much to say, and my heart is so full!" said Virginia.

"Yes, I know you told me of a thousand things that you had to say to your father, before you saw him."

"But now I see him, I have forgotten them all. I can think of nothing but of him."

"Of him and Mr. Hervey," said Mrs. Ormond.

"I was not thinking of Mr. Hervey at that moment," said Virginia, blushing.

"Well, my love, I will leave you to think and talk of what you please,"

said Mrs. Ormond, smiling significantly as she left the room.

Mr. Hartley folded his daughter in his arms with the fondest expressions of parental affection, and he was upon the point of telling her how much he approved of the choice of her heart; but he recollected his promise, and he determined to sound her inclinations farther, before he even mentioned the name of Clarence Hervey.

He began by painting the pleasures of the world, that world from which she had hitherto been secluded.

She heard him with simple indifference: not even her curiosity was excited.

He observed, that though she had no curiosity to see, it was natural that she must have some pleasure in the thoughts of being seen.

"What pleasure?" said Virginia.

"The pleasure of being admired and loved: beauty and grace such as yours, my child, cannot be seen without commanding admiration and love."

"I do not want to be admired," replied Virginia, "and I want to be loved by those only whom I love."

"My dearest daughter, you shall be entirely your own mistress; I will never interfere, either directly or indirectly, in the disposal of your heart."

At these last words, Virginia, who had listened to all the rest unmoved, took her father's hand, and kissed it repeatedly.

"Now that I have found you, my darling child, let me at least make you happy, if I can--it is the only atonement in my power; it will be the only solace of my declining years. All that wealth can bestow--"

"Wealth!" interrupted Virginia: "then you have wealth?"

"Yes, my child--may it make you happy! that is all the enjoyment I expect from it: it shall all be yours."

"And may I do what I please with it?--Oh, then it will indeed make me happy. I will give it all, all to Mr. Hervey. How delightful to have something to _give_ to Mr. Hervey!"

"And had you never any thing to give to Mr. Hervey till now?"

"Never! never! he has given me every thing. Now--oh, joyful day!--I can prove to him that Virginia is not ungrateful!"

"Dear, generous girl," said her father, wiping the tears from his eyes, "what a daughter have I found! But tell me, my child," continued he, smiling, "do you think Mr. Hervey will be content if you give him only your fortune? Do you think that he would accept the fortune without the heart? Nay, do not turn away that dear blushing face from me; remember it is _your father_ who speaks to you. Mr. Hervey will not take your fortune without yourself, I am afraid: what shall we do? Must I refuse him your hand?"

"Refuse him! do you think that I could refuse him any thing, who has given me every thing?--I should be a monster indeed! There is no sacrifice I would not make, no exertion of which I am not capable, for Mr. Hervey's sake. But, my dear father," said she, changing her tone, "he never asked for my hand till yesterday."

But he had won your heart long ago, I see, thought her father.

"I have written an answer to his letter; will you look at it, and tell me if you approve of it?"

"I do approve of it, my darling child: I will not read it--I know what it must be: he has a right to the preference he has so n.o.bly earned."

"Oh, he has--he has, indeed!" cried Virginia, with an expression of strong feeling; "and now is the time to show him that I am not ungrateful."

"How I love you for this, my child!" cried her father, fondly embracing her. "This is exactly what I wished, though I did not dare to say so till I was sure of your sentiments. Mr. Hervey charged me to leave you entirely to yourself; he thought that your new situation might perhaps produce some change in your sentiments: I see he was mistaken; and I am heartily glad of it. But you are going to say something, my dear; do not let me interrupt you."

"I was only going to beg that you would give this letter, my dear father, to Mr. Hervey. It is an answer to one which he wrote to me when I was poor"--_and deserted_, she was near saying, but she stopped herself.

"I wish," continued she, "Mr. Hervey should know that my sentiments are precisely the same now that they have always been. Tell him," added she, proudly, "that he did me injustice by imagining that my sentiments could alter with my situation. He little knows Virginia." Clarence at this moment entered the room, and Mr. Hartley eagerly led his daughter to meet him.

"Take her hand," cried he; "you have her heart--you deserve it; and she has just been very angry with me for doubting. But read her letter,--that will speak better for her, and more to your satisfaction, no doubt, than I can."

Virginia hastily put the letter into Mr. Hervey's hand, and, breaking from her father, retired to her own apartment.

With all the trepidation of a person who feels that the happiness of his life is to be decided in a few moments, Clarence tore open Virginia's letter, and, conscious that he was not able to command his emotion, he withdrew from her father's inquiring eyes. Mr. Hartley, however, saw nothing in this agitation but what he thought natural to a lover, and he was delighted to perceive that his daughter had inspired so strong a pa.s.sion.

Virginia's letter contained but these few lines:

"Most happy shall I be if the whole of my future life can prove to you how deeply I feel your goodness.

"VIRGINIA ST. PIERRE."

[_End of C. Hervey's packet_.]

An acceptance so direct left Clarence no alternative: his fate was decided. He determined immediately to force himself to see Belinda and Mr. Vincent; for he fancied that his mind would be more at ease when he had convinced himself by ocular demonstration that she was absolutely engaged to another; that, consequently, even if he were free, he could have no chance of gaining her affections. There are moments when we desire the conviction which at another time would overwhelm us with despair: it was in this temper that Mr. Hervey paid his visit to Lady Delacour; but we have seen that he was unable to support for many minutes that philosophic composure to which, at his first entrance into the room, he had worked up his mind. The tranquillity which he had expected would be the consequence of this visit, he was farther than ever from obtaining. The extravagant joy with which Lady Delacour received him, and an indescribable something in her manner when she looked from him to Belinda, and from Belinda to Mr. Vincent, persuaded him her ladyship wished that he were in Mr. Vincent's place. The idea was so delightful, that his soul was entranced, and for a few minutes Virginia, and every thing that related to her, vanished from his remembrance. It was whilst he was in this state that Lady Delacour (as the reader may recollect) invited him into her lord's dressing-room, to tell her the contents of the packet, which had not then reached her hands. The request suddenly recalled him to his senses, but he felt that he was not at this moment able to trust himself to her ladyship's penetration; he therefore referred her to his letter for that explanation which he dreaded to make in person, and he escaped from Belinda's presence, resolving never more to expose himself to such danger.

What effect his packet produced on Lady Delacour's mind and on Belinda's, we shall not at present stop to inquire; but having brought up Clarence Hervey's affairs to the present day, we shall continue his history.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

E O.

Though Clarence Hervey was not much disposed to see either Virginia or her father whilst he was in the state of perturbation into which he had been thrown by his interview with Belinda, yet he did not delay to send his servant home with a note to Mrs. Ormond, to say that he would meet Mr. Hartley, whenever he pleased, at his lawyer's, to make whatever arrangements might be necessary for proper settlements.