Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. But, at last, the great, the important day arrived, which was to repay the Baron von Schwanberg for all the anxieties he had endured, by blessing his longing eyes with the sight of the illustrious little Baron, whose distinguished destiny it was, to perpetuate the honours of the Schwanberg race. The judicious professional attendant of the lady had succeeded in persuading him, that the most serious and deplorable consequences might ensue, if the latter part of the time, which preceded the anticipated event, were not passed by her in the unbroken repose of her own dressing-room; and it is highly probable, that this friendly precaution, on the part of the rational and kind-hearted individual, who, from an involuntary persecutor, had become a pitying friend, saved her from such a fever on the spirits, as might have endangered her own life, if not that of her child; for if the ceaseless worry and impatience, in which the father expectant passed this interval, had been shared, or even witnessed by his unfortunate wife, it is scarcely possible that it could have failed of producing very painful effects. As it was, however, the Baroness von Schwanberg brought forth in safety. But, alas! her offspring was a daughter! I will not attempt to describe the state of mind into which the announcement of this fact threw the Baron. This was an occurrence which, from a strange sort of infatuation had never occurred to him as possible. In fact, his mind, which was not a very expansive one, had been, not only since his marriage, but long before it, so fully and wholly occupied by the idea of having a son, that the possibility of his having a daughter had never occurred to him. VOL. I. I) The Herr Walters was not only a kind- hearted, but really a sensible man, which was pro…
