Crime & punishment > Peveril of the peak, or, The days of Charles II

PEVERIL OF THE PEAK.
w utterly impossible, in worldly eyes, would be
: union you desire. Yet, for thy mother’s sake—
t Jul. My mother !
Major B. Julian; but for thy mother I had
■en childless. One by one,—a prey to fell con-
, mption,—did my babes sink to the grave ; and, to
mplete my misery, in giving birth to Alice, pe-
shed the faithful partner of my sorrows. In my
istraction I refused to see the infant—feeling that
he, a victim to the same disease, would be quick-
t f torn from me; but your mother, Julian—your
tonoured mother, who smoothed the dying pillow
if my wife,—took home the little Alice; and to
Lady Peveril’s fostering care am I indebted for my
f :hild.
Jul. Then, dear Sir ! will not the mother’s kind-
, ness atone for what—
Major B. The protection Sir Geoffry afforded to
tile Lady Derby determined me to take my Alice
ifrom your father’s roof. I secretly dispatched her
here, where many of her mother’s relatives have long
resided; but little thinking that the proud Peveril
of the Peak would send his only hope to dance at¬
tendance as a page in Holm Peel Castle.
Jul. As little thought I,—when first I sought the
stream which ripples round these walls, to cast my
| angle in the water,—to find again the lost compa¬
nion of my infancy. Surely, Sir, since heaven de¬
creed the meeting, you will not refuse to sanction my
affection ?
Major B- Son of Margaret Peveril, I have dealt
candidly with thee. The sentiments of thy house and
mine are now too wide asunder—thy religion and
thy politics too much unlike my own ; yet, if you
truly love Alice Bridgenorth, and will deserve her
at her father’s hands, it may not be impossible—
(Julian is about to reply.)—Reply not now—but