His soul's delight is faro, which he
would not exchange for all the religion in the world; he has strong
doubts about the good of religion, which, he says, should be boxed
up with modern morality.
Laying these things aside, however, he is anything but what would
have been properly selected as a partner for Franconia; and, while
she is only eighteen, he has turned the corner of his forty-third
year. In a word, his manners are unmodelled, his feelings coarse,
his associations of the worst kind; nor is he adapted to make the
happiness of domestic life lasting. He is one of those persons so
often met with, whose affections-if they may be supposed to have
any-are held in a sort of compromise between an incitement to love,
and their natural inclination to revel in voluptuous pleasures. The
two being antagonistic at times, the latter is sure to be the
stronger, and not unfrequently carries its victim into dissolute
extremes. Riches, however, will always weigh heavy in the scale;
their possession sways,--the charm of gold is precious and powerful.
And, too, the colonel had another attraction-very much esteemed
among slave-dealers and owners--he had a military title, though no
one knew how he came by it.
Franconia must be the affianced bride of the supposed wealthy
Colonel M'Carstrow; so say her parents, who feel they are being
crushed out by misfortune. It is their desire; and, however
repulsive it may be to Franconia's feelings, she must accept the
man: she must forget his years, his habits, his associations, for
the wealth he can bring to the relief of the family.
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