And you, have you forgotten all our youthful
affection? You cannot, Venetia. Our childhood can never be a blank.'
'I told you, when first we met, my heart was unchanged,' said Venetia.
'Remember the vows I made to you when last at Cherbury,' said
Cadurcis. 'Years have flown on, Venetia; but they find me urging the
same. At any rate, now I know myself; at any rate, I am not now an
obscure boy; yet what is manhood, and what is fame, without the charm
of my infancy and my youth! Yes, Venetia! you must, you will he mine?'
'Plantagenet,' she replied, in a solemn tone, 'yours I never can be.'
'You do not, then, love me?' said Cadurcis reproachfully, and in a
voice of great feeling.
'It is impossible for you to be loved more than I love you,' said
Venetia.
'My own Venetia!' said Cadurcis; 'Venetia that I dote on! what does
this mean? Why, then, will you not be mine?'
'I cannot; there is an obstacle, an insuperable obstacle.'
'Tell it me,' said Cadurcis eagerly; 'I will overcome it.'
'I have promised never to marry without the approbation of my mother;
her approbation you never can obtain.'
Cadurcis' countenance fell; this was an obstacle which he felt that
even he could not overcome.
'I told you your mother hated me, Venetia.
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