"I thought it my duty," said he, "independent of my feelings, to
give her the option of continuing the engagement or not, when I was
renounced by my mother, and stood to all appearance without a
friend in the world to assist me. In such a situation as that,
where there seemed nothing to tempt the avarice or the vanity of
any living creature, how could I suppose, when she so earnestly, so
warmly insisted on sharing my fate, whatever it might be, that any
thing but the most disinterested affection was her inducement? And
even now, I cannot comprehend on what motive she acted, or what
fancied advantage it could be to her, to be fettered to a man for
whom she had not the smallest regard, and who had only two thousand
pounds in the world. She could not foresee that Colonel Brandon
w
