The misfortune that early befell my family, is not unknown to any in this
settlement; thou seest in this trembling creature the daughter of our
love--her we have so long mourned. The wept of my household is again with
us; our hearts have been oppressed, they are now gladdened. God hath
returned our child!"
There was a deep, rich pathos in the tones of the father, that affected
most of his auditors, though each manifested his sensibilities in a manner
suited to his particular habits of mind. The nature of the divine was
touched, and all the energies of his severe principles were wanting to
sustain him above the manifestation of a weakness that he might have
believed derogatory to his spiritual exaltation of character. He therefore
sat mute, with hands folded on his knee, betraying the struggles of an
awakened sympathy only by a firmer compression of the interlocked fingers,
and an occasional and involuntary movement of the stronger muscles of the
face. Dudley suffered a smile of pleasure to lighten his broad, open
countenance; and the physician, who had hitherto been merely a listener,
uttered a few low syllables of admiration of the physical perfection of
the being before him, with which there was mingled some evidence of
natural good feeling.
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