ver Edward's face in
a moment, and his resolution suddenly changed. He sat down on
the bench and held out his hand to me. "Do what you will," he
said. "Nothing but death shall part us now."

There was such thrilling tenderness, such intense feeling in
these few words, such belief in me, that, as I sank on my
knees by his side, and pressed my lips again on that hand, now
passive in my grasp, while with the other he supported me as I
knelt; as he fixed his eyes in silent but ardent affection on
mine, there was such a suspension in my soul of everything but
deep, boundless, inexpressible love, which thrilled through
every nerve, and absorbed every faculty, that I could have
wished to die in that state of blissful abstraction...

The blood had ceased to flow; the task of love was over, and
still I knelt by Edward's side; still his arm supported my
head; still he murmured words of tenderness in my ear--when we
were roused by the sudden approach of Mr. Middleton, who,
having heard of the pursuit, and of the death of a mad dog in
the immediate vicinity of the grounds, had been anxiously
looking out for me. I started hastily from my kneeling
position, but Edward still kept his arm round me; and turning
to my uncle he gave him, in a few words, an account of what
had occurred, of my danger, of his agony, when, from the
fishing-house, he saw the imminence of that danger, of my
escape through his means, of the bite which he had received as
he seized on the dog, and of the manner in which I had drawn
the poison from the wound. "She has done by me," he said with
a voice which trembled with emotion; "she has done by me what
Queen Eleanor did by her husband; but when I suffered her to
do so, she had confessed what makes me happier, on this day of
terror and anxiety, than I have ever been on any other day of
my life. Wish me joy, Mr. Middleton, of the dearest, of the
tenderest, of the most courageous, as well as of the loveliest
bride that ever man was blest with."

As Edward finished these words, his arms drew me closer to
him, and he kissed my cheek, which had grown, during the last
few seconds, as pale as it had been crimson a moment before;
and it was not love that now blanched my cheek, and made me
tremble in a way which made the support of Edward's arm a
matter of necessity. It was not the emotion of happiness that
kept me as silent as the grave, when Mr. Middleton fondly
kissed me, and blessed me for what I had done, and f