Your very apparel has been purchased from sums of money I have
from time to time borrowed from him--for I have not yet met with the
increased sale and handsome remuneration for my pictures I was led
to expect. Indeed, many of those you supposed to be ordered, were
pledged for a tenth part of their value. If, however, you become his
wife,' he proceeded, 'we shall never want; for his fortune is
immense, and he is easily persuaded to part with it; but if you
refuse, his vanity, which is his ruling passion, will be so deeply
wounded, that he will withdraw his assistance from me, and our ruin
is inevitable. I have amused him with hopes of success and assurances
that you will smile on him at last, in spite of your girlish
coquetry, till he is incensed at the delay; and he last night told me
that he would be put off no longer, but have a positive answer _from
your own lips_ this very evening.' Amy pressed her hands upon her
burning brow in unutterable anguish. 'Yes,' her father resumed, 'this
very evening you must set your seal to our destiny.
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