er
to him; but suddenly he started back, as if he recoiled from
my touch, and almost flung me from him; and, disengaging his
hand from mine, he left me abruptly.

I heard his steps down the stairs; I heard his voice in the
hall; then there was a moment during which I heard nothing;
and then there was the sound of the carriage-wheels; and then
the hall-door was shut; and then all was over; and I wrung my
hands, and thrust the bed-clothes into my mouth to stifle my
groans. I felt as if my head would burst. Sob after sob rose
in my chest and shook my frame; and all night the doctor was
by my side, and he and my maid gave me draughts to drink,
which I took eagerly, for my mouth was parched and my lips
burning; and towards morning I fell asleep again.

CHAPTER XXIII.

"Oh there's a fatal story to be told,
Be deaf to that as Heaven has been to me.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
How wilt thou curse thy fond believing heart,
Tear me from the warm bosom of thy love,
And throw me like a poisonous weed away.
Can I bear that? hear to be curst and torn
And thrown out of thy family and name--
Like a disease? Can I bear this from thee?
I never can, no, all things have their end,
When I am dead, forgive and pity me."

FATAL MARRIAGE.

"I must be patient till the Heavens look
With an aspect more favourable * * * * * *
I am not prone to weeping, as our sex
Commonly are; the want of which vain dew
Perchance, shall dry your pities, but I have
That honourable grief lodged here, which bums
Worse than tears drown."

SHAKESPEARE.

The next day I did not attempt to get up; it seemed to me that
Edward's absence, and his last words, had taken from me all
energy--all power of thinking or acting. It was as a dream
that I could not shake off, though at the same time I felt all
its dreadful reality. I dared not stir in body or in spirit;
the quiet of a sick-room--the silence around me--the exclusion
of light and noise--harmonised with the extraordinary state in
which I was. Strange delusions haunted me; I often saw figures
pass and repass before my bed; and when it was Edward's form
that I discerned, I held my breath, and prayed that the
illusion might last. But sometimes they were dreadful; the
visions I had--the voices I heard! I dare not think of them
now; for the night is coming--my room is dark--my sight is
weak--and my brain is on fire.

* * * *

On the thir