"If you would have me think so, there is but one way to convince me of
it--let your daughter bestow her hand on me this evening."
"So soon?--impossible," answered Vere; "think of her late alarm--of our
present undertaking."
"I will listen to nothing but to her consent, plighted at the altar.
You have a chapel in the castle--Doctor Hobbler is present among the
company-this proof of your good faith to-night, and we are again
joined in heart and hand. If you refuse me when it is so much for your
advantage to consent, how shall I trust you to-morrow, when I shall
stand committed in your undertaking, and unable to retract?"
"And I am to understand, that, if you can be made my son-in-law
to-night, our friendship is renewed?" said Ellieslaw.
"Most infallibly, and most inviolably," replied Sir Frederick.
"Then," said Vere, "though what you ask is premature, indelicate, and
unjust towards my character, yet, Sir Frederick, give me your hand--my
daughter shall be your wife."
"This night?"
"This very night," replied Ellieslaw, "before the clock strikes twelve.
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