ABSTRACT
I must not delay a moment, said Edmond to Mrs. St. Clare.142 Frances must be fetched back immediately. I go, continued he; and a faint gleam of hope crossses my heart, as I depend much on the presence of the child; for it appears to me, that the idea of having lost her, is what most distresses Malvina. Alas! so indulgent and tender as she naturally is, she certainly would have forgiven a fault in another, though she cannot support the idea of having reason to reproach herself; and, from the moment in which she imagined herself culpable, she sunk under it, as her soul is too pure to wish to exist, when touched by remorse.
