Gulian's strict sense of justice told him that Betty was
right in seizing the means at hand to rescue her brother, but that did
not lessen his irritation at being used for anything which appertained
to the Whig cause, for Gulian Verplanck was a Tory to the backbone.
Educated in England, brought up to consider that the divine right of
kings was a sacred principle, he carried his devotion to the Tories to
such an extent that had he foreseen the conflict between King and
Colonies it is safe to say he would never have wedded Clarissa Wolcott.
His love for his wife was too great to permit him to regret his
marriage, and he was too thorough a gentleman to annoy her by alluding
to their political difference of opinion, except occasionally, when his
temper got the better of him, which, to do him justice, was seldom. But
Clarissa's very love for him rendered her too clear-sighted not to
perceive the state of his mind, and the unspoken agitation which she
suffered on this score had been partly the cause of her homesickness and
longing for her sister's companionship. He had been both kind and
considerate in sending for Betty; his conscience approved the action;
and now to have this escapade as the outcome was, to a man of his
somewhat stilted and over-ceremonious ideas, a blow of the most annoying
description.
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