The
period at which Lord Glenfallen had arranged to visit Ashtown-house
was now fast approaching, and it became my mother's wish to form
me thoroughly to her will, and to obtain my consent to the proposed
marriage before his arrival, so that all things might proceed smoothly
without apparent opposition or objection upon my part; whatever
objections, therefore, I had entertained were to be subdued; whatever
disposition to resistance I had exhibited or had been supposed to
feel, were to be completely eradicated before he made his appearance,
and my mother addressed herself to the task with a decision and energy
against which even the barriers, which her imagination had created,
could hardly have stood. If she had, however, expected any determined
opposition from me, she was agreeably disappointed; my heart was
perfectly free, and all my feelings of liking and preference were in
favour of Lord Glenfallen, and I well knew that in case I refused to
dispose of myself as I was desired, my mother had alike the power and
the will to render my existence as utterly miserable as any, even
the most ill-assorted marriage could possibly have done. You will
remember, my good friend, that I was very young and very completely
under the controul of my parents, both of whom, my mother
particularly, were unscrupulously determined in matters of this kind,
and willing, when voluntary obedience on the part of those within
their power was withheld, to compel a forced acquiescence by an
unsparing use of all the engines of the most stern and rigorous
domestic discipline.
Pages:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26