Don Augustin himself was now seized with the desire of proselyting.
Even the soft and amiable Inez thought it would be a glorious
consummation of her wishes, to be a humble instrument of bringing her
lover into the bosom of the true church. The offers of Middleton were
promptly accepted, and, while the father looked forward impatiently to
the day assigned for the nuptials, as to the pledge of his own
success, the daughter thought of it with feelings in which the holy
emotions of her faith were blended with the softer sensations of her
years and situation.
The sun rose, the morning of her nuptials, on a day so bright and
cloudless, that Inez hailed it as a harbinger of future happiness.
Father Ignatius performed the offices of the church, in a little
chapel attached to the estate of Don Augustin; and long ere the sun
had begun to fall, Middleton pressed the blushing and timid young
Creole to his bosom, his acknowledged and unalienable wife. It had
pleased the parties to pass the day of the wedding in retirement,
dedicating it solely to the best and purest affections, aloof from the
noisy and heartless rejoicings of a compelled festivity.
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