cannot, according to the present prejudices of society at least, be
welcome to my family. My dearest mother, on whom, God knows, I would wish
to inflict no needless pain, is deeply moved and grieved, I am sorry to
say, by the intelligence which I have this night conveyed to her. I
beseech you, my dear Sir, to come down and reason with her and console
her. Although obliged by poverty to earn an honourable maintenance by the
exercise of her splendid talents, Miss Costigan's family is as ancient
and noble as our own. When our ancestor, Ralph Pendennis, landed with
Richard II. in Ireland, my Emily's forefathers were kings of that
country. I have the information from Mr. Costigan, who, like yourself, is
a military man.

"It is in vain I have attempted to argue with my dear mother, and prove
to her that a young lady of irreproachable character and lineage, endowed
with the most splendid gifts of beauty and genius, who devotes herself to
the exercise of one of the noblest professions, for the sacred purpose of
maintaining her family, is a being whom we should all love and reverence,
rather than avoid;--my poor mother has prejudices which it is impossible
for my logic to overcome, and refuses to welcome to her arms one who is
disposed to be her most affectionate daughter through life.

"Although Miss Costigan is some years older than myself, that
circumstance does not operate as a barrier to my affection, and I am sure
will not influence its duration. A love like mine, Sir, I feel, is
contracted once and for ever. As I never had dreamed of love until I saw
her--I feel now that I shall die without ever knowing another passion. It
is the fate of my life. It was Miss C.'s own delicacy which suggested
that the difference of age, which I never felt, might operate as a bar to
our union. But having loved once, I should despise myself, and be
unworthy of my name as a gentleman, if I hesitated to abide by my