They were inconsistent, I conceived, with that
artifice and dissimulation of which you strove to render me the dupe.
But, thank Heaven, the snare was broken. My eyes were open to discover
your folly; and my heart, engaged as it was, exerted resolution and
strength to burst asunder the chain by which you held me enslaved, and
to assert the rights of an injured man.
The parting scene you remember. I reluctantly bade you adieu. I tore
myself from you, determined to eradicate your idea from my breast. Long
and severe was the struggle; at last I vanquished, as I thought, every
tender passion of my soul, (for they all centred in you,) and resigned
myself to my God and my duty, devoting those affections to friendship
which had been disappointed in love. But they are again called into
exercise. The virtuous, the amiable, the accomplished Maria Selby
possesses my entire confidence and esteem; and I trust I am not deceived
when I think her highly deserving of both. With her I expect soon to be
united in the most sacred and endearing of human relations, with her to
pass my future days in serenity and peace.
Your letter, therefore, came too late, were there no other obstacle to
the renewal of our connection. I hope at the close of life, when we take
a retrospect of the past, that neither of us shall have reason to regret
our separation.
Permit me to add, that for your own sake, and for the sake of your
ever-valued friends, I sincerely rejoice that your mind has regained its
native strength and beauty; that you have emerged from the shade of
fanciful vanity.
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