On
the contrary, will he not, hearing of you in the neighborhood, be more
close in his restraints upon me? Will not your chance of exposure, too,
be so much the greater, as to make it incumbent upon him to pursue his
determination with rigor? while, on the other hand, if you remove
yourself out of all reach of Georgia, in the Mississippi, and there
begin a settlement, I am sure that he will look upon the affair with
different notions."
"It can not be, Kate--it can not be. You know I have had but a single
motive for living so long among this people and in these parts. I
disliked both, and only lingered with a single hope, that I might be
blessed with your presence always, and in the event of my sufficient
success, that I might win you altogether for myself. I have not done
much for this object and this unhappy affair forbids me for the present
to do more. Is not this enough, Katharine, and must I bury myself from
you a thousand miles in the forest, ignorant of what may be going on,
and without any hope, such as I have lived for before? Is the labor I
have undergone--the life I have led--to have no fruits? Will you too be
the first to recommend forgetfulness; to overthrow my chance of
happiness? No--it must not be.
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