"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means

as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half

hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are

gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your

own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare

not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an

earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been,

weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have

brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not

seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not

waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think

you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant

hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can

distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others.

Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do

believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe

it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in F. W.

"I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow

your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to

decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never."

Such a letter was not to be soon recovered from. Half an hour's

solitude and reflection might have tranquillized her; but the ten

minutes only which now passed before she was interrupted, with all the

restraints of her situation, could do nothing towards tranquillity.

Every moment rather brought fresh agitation. It was overpowering

happiness. And before she was beyond the first stage of full

sensation, Charles, Mary, and Henrietta all came in.

The absolute necessity of seeming like herself produced then an

immediate struggle; but after a while she could do no more. She began

not to understand a word they said, and was obliged to plead

indisposition and excuse herself. They could then see that she looked

very ill, were shocked and concerned, and would not stir without her

for the world. This was dreadful. Would they only have gone away, and

left her in the quiet possession of that room it would have been her

cure; but to have them all standing or waiting around her was

distracting, and in desperation, she said she would go home.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024