There was an hour
during which he could continue to exercise his eloquence upon his
niece, and endeavour to induce her to authorise him to contradict
her own letter. He appealed first to her affection, and then to her
duty; and after that, having failed in these appeals, he poured
forth the full vials of his wrath upon her head. She was
ungrateful, obstinate, false, unwomanly, disobedient, irreligious,
sacrilegious, and an idiot. In the fury of his anger, there was
hardly any epithet of severe rebuke which he spared, and yet, as
every cruel word left his mouth, he assured her that it should all
be taken to mean nothing, if she would only now tell him that he
might nullify the letter. Though she had deserved all these bad
things which he had spoken of her, yet she should be regarded as
having deserved none of them, should again be accepted as having in
all points done her duty, if she would only, even now, be obedient.
But she was not to be shaken. She had at last formed a resolution,
and her uncle's words had no effect towards turning her from it.
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