And then proceeded to ask
many questions of the elder Oldham--I pitied that young fellow--to have a
mother in his eye, whose very tenderness to the young ones kept alive the
sense of her guilt. And yet what would she have been, had she not been
doubly tender to the innocents, who were born to shame from her fault?
The young man acknowledged a military genius; and Sir Charles told him,
that he would, on his return from a journey he was going to take,
consider whether he could not do him service in the way he chose. He
gave him, it seems, a brief lecture on what he should aim to be, and what
avoid, to qualify himself for a man of true honour; and spoke very
handsomely of such gentlemen of the army as are real gentlemen. The
young fellow, continued Miss Grandison, may look upon himself to be as
good as provided for, since my brother never gives the most distant hope
that is not followed by absolute certainty, the first opportunity, not
that offers, but which he can make.
He took great notice of the little boys. He dilated their hearts, and
set them a prating; and was pleased with their prate. The doctor, who
had never seen him before in the company of children, applauded him for
his vivacity, and condescending talk to them. The tenderest father in
the world, he said, could not have behaved more tenderly, or shewed
himself more delighted with his own children, than he did with those
brats of Mrs.
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