"Mind you never tell her that," he said.
"Women love the lie that saves their pride, but never an unflattering
truth. You have learned your lesson young,--to put a tempting face aside
when duty demands every faculty; it is a lesson which takes most men
longest to learn. I could tell you some amusing stories of rough and
tumbles in my mind between the divine image of the hour and some affair
of highest moment. But to a brain like yours all things are possible."
He rose, and took Hamilton's hand and shook it warmly.
"God bless you," he said. "Your future unrolls to my vision, brilliant
and happy. I deeply wish that it may be so."
VII
The letter from General Schuyler, giving his consent to the engagement,
has not been preserved; but some time after he had occasion to write
Hamilton a business letter, in which the following passage occurs:--
You cannot, my dear sir, be more happy at the connexion you have
made with my family than I am. Until the child of a parent has made
a judicious choice, his heart is in continual anxiety; but this
anxiety was removed on the moment I discovered it was on you she
had placed her affections.
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