Next Door Neighbours Part 17

WILLFORD.

I some years since revealed to him she was _not_ his sister.

ELEANOR.

And he, some years since, implied it to me. Yet, in such doubtful terms, I knew not which of us had the sorrow not to be your child.--I now find it is myself--and I aver it to be a sorrow, for which, all the fortune I am going to possess will not repay me.

SIR GEORGE.

Then, my dearest sister, indulge the hope you may yet be his daughter.

This young man's merit deserves a reward, and in _time_ he may learn to love you by a still nearer tie than that, you have so long known to exist between you; nay, even by a nearer tie than that of brother.

HENRY.

I am in doubt of what I hear--Eleanor, since our short separation, there cannot surely have been any important discovery--

MANLY.

Be not surprised--great discoveries, which we labour in vain for years to make, are frequently brought about in one lucky moment, without any labour at all.

SIR GEORGE.

True--for till this day arose, I had pa.s.sed every hour since my birth, without making one discovery to my advantage--while this short, but propitious morning, has discovered to me all my former folly--and discovered to me--how to be in future happy.

THE END.