Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
"Its Precepts Are Eternal;" Or , The Practice Of A Freemason's Daughter.
yet , sir , that is the very last objection I should have expected to have fallen from your lips . " " Why ?" " For countless reasons ! How often have I heard you reprobate interested marriages ! With what scorn have I heard you dwell on the servile homage paid by abject minds to mere
wealth ! How repeatedly have I heard you advert to the fact that gold has , again ancl again , been heaped by the Great Supreme upon the meanest and basest of his creatures , and draw from it as an unassailable inference the estimate which HE places on wealth ! How often have I listened to your emphatic declaration that an intellectual and immortal
beingshould be measured by mind , not means ! " " Admitted all ! " was Mr . Heathfield ' s prompt rejoinder . "And now , father , " continued Maurice , with kindling eye and quivering lip , " that from you should come the unexpected and inconsistent objection that Helen Tyrawley ' s poverty is to bar our uniongrieves me to the very soul !"
, The party so addressed seemed stung by this appeal . He rose wildly from his seat , and advanced rapidly towards his son , as if with the intention of addressing him , —checked himself , moaned piteously , and then buried his face in his hands . But no common emotion stirred that usually resolute and self-possessed man . His features were hidden from
observation ; but his massive chest heaved irregularly and spasmodically ; ancl his whole frame seemed under the influence of palsy . At length , as if he had taken his resolution , he looked up abruptly , ancl speaking with a degree of calmness frightful to witness , because it was evidently forced , proceeded .
" Maurice ! Suppose I were to say that I am not rich ; that all about me is a mockery and a sham ; that I have no right to any one of the many luxuries that surround me ; that it is questionable whether the firm is solvent ; that the slightest breath of suspicion may destroy it ; ancl that it hangs together by the merest peradventure — how then ? Should I
be right in allowing you to marry a portionless girl under the idea that ultimately wealth must to a certainty be your lot ; or Helen Tyrawley to unite her fate to yorirs under the impression that whatever trials might assail her wedded life , poverty would not be one of them ? Let me have your answer . " " You are jesting , sir , " said Maurice , faintly . " Never more in earnest than now , " was the rejoinder .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
"Its Precepts Are Eternal;" Or , The Practice Of A Freemason's Daughter.
yet , sir , that is the very last objection I should have expected to have fallen from your lips . " " Why ?" " For countless reasons ! How often have I heard you reprobate interested marriages ! With what scorn have I heard you dwell on the servile homage paid by abject minds to mere
wealth ! How repeatedly have I heard you advert to the fact that gold has , again ancl again , been heaped by the Great Supreme upon the meanest and basest of his creatures , and draw from it as an unassailable inference the estimate which HE places on wealth ! How often have I listened to your emphatic declaration that an intellectual and immortal
beingshould be measured by mind , not means ! " " Admitted all ! " was Mr . Heathfield ' s prompt rejoinder . "And now , father , " continued Maurice , with kindling eye and quivering lip , " that from you should come the unexpected and inconsistent objection that Helen Tyrawley ' s poverty is to bar our uniongrieves me to the very soul !"
, The party so addressed seemed stung by this appeal . He rose wildly from his seat , and advanced rapidly towards his son , as if with the intention of addressing him , —checked himself , moaned piteously , and then buried his face in his hands . But no common emotion stirred that usually resolute and self-possessed man . His features were hidden from
observation ; but his massive chest heaved irregularly and spasmodically ; ancl his whole frame seemed under the influence of palsy . At length , as if he had taken his resolution , he looked up abruptly , ancl speaking with a degree of calmness frightful to witness , because it was evidently forced , proceeded .
" Maurice ! Suppose I were to say that I am not rich ; that all about me is a mockery and a sham ; that I have no right to any one of the many luxuries that surround me ; that it is questionable whether the firm is solvent ; that the slightest breath of suspicion may destroy it ; ancl that it hangs together by the merest peradventure — how then ? Should I
be right in allowing you to marry a portionless girl under the idea that ultimately wealth must to a certainty be your lot ; or Helen Tyrawley to unite her fate to yorirs under the impression that whatever trials might assail her wedded life , poverty would not be one of them ? Let me have your answer . " " You are jesting , sir , " said Maurice , faintly . " Never more in earnest than now , " was the rejoinder .