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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: put you in immediate possession of a large part of his fortune, I
account it a full atonement. I am aware he has never forgiven
the preference which your mother gave to my addresses, instead of
complying with the terms of a sort of family compact, which
absurdly and tyrannically destined her to wed her deformed
relative. The shock was even sufficient to unsettle his wits
(which, indeed, were never over-well arranged), and I had, as the
husband of his nearest kinswoman and heir, the delicate task of
taking care of his person and property, until he was reinstated
in the management of the latter by those who, no doubt, thought
they were doing him justice; although, if some parts of his
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