f
salvation. I have written to Mrs. Moore to propose to her that
as soon as you are well enough to move, you should go to
Hampstead, and remain there till my return. I forbid you, in
the most positive manner, to receive a single visit from Henry,
or to open a letter from him. I not only request, but command
you, neither by letter or by word to make any answer to _this_
letter, or to allude to the subject of it. By your strict
compliance with these injunctions, I shall judge of your
desire to enter upon a new course, and, save in the secret
penitence of your heart, to discard the remembrance of the
past.

"E. MIDDLETON."

Inclosed in this letter were the following notes:

"Do not go, I implore you; I forgive, and will bear with
you,--_Thursday_."

"You left me in anger three days ago, and I feel a nervous
dread of what will happen next. I cannot bear this suspense;
write or come.--_Sunday_."

"I shall have no rest till I have seen you; since that woman
is arrived, I feel as if all would be discovered.--_Friday_."

The chain of evidence against me was overpowering, and I
clasped my hands in silent despair. I read Edward's letter
upon my knees; and murmured blessings were choked in their
utterance, by the convulsive emotion which mastered me. At
that moment it seemed to me agony past endurance that he
should accuse and judge me falsely; that he should call my
love hypocrisy; I thought I would rather die, than meet him in
the way he prescribed, as life could have no greater misery in
store for me than this; but by degrees I grew conscious that
there was not so heavy a load on my breast, so racking an
anguish in my brain, as I had known in those hours when,
tortured with anxiety, I had been commanded to smile; when,
degraded in my own eyes, and condemned by my own heart, I had
been placed by him on a pinnacle, from which I dreaded each
moment to be hurled. His praises had often run like daggers
into my heart; but now his reproaches, his upbraidings, were
answered by the mute consciousness of a love, which in the
midst of guilt and misery, and bitter humiliation, had
remained pure, sacred, and entire. Then flashed for an instant
through my mind, like a ray of light and hope, the thought of
_confession_, full, ample, and complete confession! What
depths of repose in that word! What pledge of peace! What
renewal of confidence! What possibility of happiness! I rose
suddenly and threw the window open; and a