ank, in a
good position, with the full consent of her parents; and she could
not help his falling a victim to the horrible Belgian revolution, in
which he lost his life and fortune, leaving her with seven daughters,
one of whom was your mother, who, I must say, troubled herself as
little as any of the other nieces about Aunt Sophia. I can pardon
her, however, because when she returned from Belgium to Holland an
occurrence in our unfortunate family affairs had decided me to break
off all intercourse with my relations. The second reason, and the
chief one, why I have distinguished you above all the rest is this:
I have a good opinion of your disposition and self-command. I have,
several times and in divers ways, made inquiries about you, both of
friends and strangers, and the information I have received has always
been such as to lead me to believe you the most fitting person to carry
out one wish which I urgently request you to fulfil, if it be at all
possible; namely, to marry the only grandchild of my eldest sister,
and in this way put her in possession of that part of my fortune which
the unpleasant divisions in our family cause me to withhold. I wished
to adopt the girl in her early youth, give her a good education,
and save her from the miserable garrison life she has led: but my
request was bluntly refused; and General von Zwenken, her grandfather,
has recklessly sacrificed the fortune of his granddaughter for the
pleasure of being revenged on me. Consequently my will is made with
the fixed purpose of preventing his ever enjoying a penny that has
belonged to me. On reflection, however, I have come to the conclusion
that it would be wrong to punish the granddaughter for the sins of her
grandparents. After my death, on the contrary, I should like her to
confess that old Aunt Roselaer, whose name she will only have heard
mentioned with anger and disdain, was not so very wicked after all,
seeing that she has ever had the welfare of her niece at heart. If I
were to leave her my fortune, I should only be playing into the hands
of her grandfather, who would doubtless spend every penny of it in
the same way he spent that of my sister. And so it has occurred to
me, Leopold, to single you out and make you the sole possessor of
all my wealth, with the request that you will make good the wrong
which I have been forced to do. The question now is, whether you
will be able to accomplish my desire. Difficulties may be placed in
yo