Interpret my words with candour and answer me, I conjure you, with confidence and sincerity." I listened to my father in silence and remained for some time incapable of offering any reply.

I revolved rapidly in my mind a multitude of thoughts and endeavoured to arrive at some conclusion.

Alas! To me the idea of an immediate union with my Elizabeth was one of horror and dismay.

I was bound by a solemn promise which I had not yet fulfilled and dared not break, or if I did, what manifold miseries might not impend over me and my devoted family! Could I enter into a festival with this deadly weight yet hanging round my neck and bowing me to the ground?
I must perform my engagement and let the monster depart with his mate before I allowed myself to enjoy the delight of a union from which I expected peace.
I remembered also the necessity imposed upon me of either journeying to England or entering into a long correspondence with those philosophers of that country whose knowledge and discoveries were of indispensable use to me in my present undertaking.

The latter method of obtaining the desired intelligence was dilatory and unsatisfactory; besides, I had an insurmountable aversion to the idea of engaging myself in my loathsome task in my father's house while in habits of familiar intercourse with those I loved.