but I had nobody; and now three relations—or two, if you don’t choose to be counted—are born into my world full-grown. I say again, I am glad!”
I walked fast through the room: I stopped, half suffocated with the thoughts that rose faster than I could receive, comprehend, settle them:—thoughts of what might, could, would, and should be, and that ere long. I looked at the blank wall: it seemed a sky thick with ascending stars—every one lit me to a purpose or delight. Those who had saved my life, whom, till this hour, I had loved barrenly, I could now benefit. They were under a yoke—I could free them: they were scattered—I could reunite them: the independence, the affluence which was mine, might be theirs too. Were we not four? Twenty thousand pounds shared equally would be five thousand each, justice—enough and to spare: justice would be done—mutual happiness secured. Now the wealth did not weigh on me: now it was not a mere bequest of coin—it was a legacy of life, hope, enjoyment.