world, and has yet come home uncaptivated, though
in his travels he has met the fairest and the richest,
can have been caught at the mere passing by your farm
of Stillyside, can at a glance have been so smitten as
to meditate this marriage. No, he has been decoyed,
seduced. You might as well declare that a young
eagle would not return to its nest, but plunge
into some casually discovered coop, and roost there,
as aver that, without some irregular influence, Claude
Montigny would seek your ward in marriage. If she
marry him, she will marry a beggar: not an acre of
mine shall he inherit, not a dollar of mine will he
receive. Give her a dowry? Give her a dukedom.
No, sir; I will not buy brass from you at the price
of gold; I will not subsidize you to avoid your ward."
And, with the words, he bowed himself out of the
room, and the advocate, casting himself backwards in
his easy chair, laughing, exclaimed: "Was ever such a
proposition started? -- started! yes; and shall event-
ually be carried. It is not what we do, but it is the
motive that induced the deed, that gives the color to
it. She shall be Madam Montigny, in spite of old
Montigny's self; and for her dowry, (which I asked
Montigny to provide, only that it might be returned
to him through his son), I'll mortgage my old brains
to procure it for her."

[[63]]

p062 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p063w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p064

v?