He was going on--Pray, brother, said the general--And turning to me, I
may expect you, sir, at Naples?
You may, my lord. But one favour I have to beg of you mean time. It is,
that you will not treat harshly your dear Clementina. Would to Heaven I
might have had the honour to say, my Clementina! And permit me to make
one other request on my own account: and that is, that you will tell her,
that I took my leave of your whole family, by their kind permission; and
that, at my departure, I wished her, from my soul, all the happiness that
the best and tenderest of her friends can wish her! I make this request
to you, my lord, rather than to Signor Jeronymo, because the tenderness
which he has for me might induce him to mention me to her in a manner
which might, at this time, affect her too sensibly for her peace.
Be pleased, my dear Signor Jeronymo, to make my devotion known to the
marchioness. Would to Heaven--But adieu! and once more adieu, my
Jeronymo. I shall hear from you when I get to Naples, if not before.--
God restore your sister, and heal you!
I bowed to the marquis, to the ladies, to the general, to the bishop,
particularly; to the rest in general; and was obliged, in order to
conceal my emotion, to hurry out at the door. The servants had planted
themselves in a row; not for selfish motives, as in England: they bowed
to the ground, and blessed me, as I went through them. I had ready a
purse of ducats. One hand and another declined it: I dropt it in their
sight. God be with you, my honest friends! said I; and departed--O, Dr.
Bartlett, with a heart how much distressed!
And now, my good Miss Byron, Have I not reason, from the deep concern
which you take in the woes of Lady Clementina, to regret the task you
have put me upon? And do you, my good Lord and Lady L----, and Miss
Grandison, now wonder that your brother has not been forward to give you
the particulars of this melancholy tale? Yet you all say, I must
proceed.
See, Lucy, the greatness of this man's behaviour! What a presumption was
it in your Harriet, ever to aspire to call such a one hers!