a different course, and to have
claimed her openly. My pride, wounded by the insolent denunciations of
the dwarf, demanded a more public vindication of her independence and
mine; and this stolen flight, and the necessity it imposed upon me of
observing a similar caution in my own movements, looked so like fear and
evasion that I submitted to it very reluctantly. The notion of
concealment and secrecy galled me, and even at this moment, when my
happiness was on the eve of consummation, it gave me a thrill of
uneasiness that cast an oppressive shadow over the future. Astraea,
however, had evidently a strong reason for insisting on privacy, and I
was too anxious about hastening our union to throw any new obstacle in
the way of its accomplishment.

We separated in the Park, Astraea being unwilling to suffer me to escort
her any further lest we should be seen together. This little incident,
trifling as it was, increased the nervous annoyance and sense of
humiliation I felt at being required to act as if I had any fear of the
results; nor could I comprehend why she should be so much alarmed at
being seen walking with me alone, when she knew that in a few days we
should be indissolubly united. But I submitted to her wishes. Passion is
willful and unreasonable, and takes a wayward pleasure in shutting its
eyes, and rushing onward in the dare. I stifled my vexation in the
anticipation of the joy that lay before me, which would be victory
enough over the impotent hatred of Mephistophiles.

VIII.

Throughout the whole of the next day I waited anxiously in the
expectation of hearing from Astraea. Evening came and passed, and there
was no communication. When the last post-hour was gone by, and all hope
of a letter was at an end, I ventured into the streets, hoping to gather
some signs of her movements from the outside of her house. The blinds
were down as usual in the drawing-room windows, and there seemed to be
rather an extraordinary flush of lights within, as if some commotion was
going forward. I could see huge, shapeless shadows of people moving
about the room, in great bustle and excitement; and it appeared to me,
from the frequency and confusion of then: motions, that the ordinary
family party was augmented by additional numbers. The gathering,
whatever it might have been, was not for festivity; and the constant
swaying backward and forward, and vehement tossing of long streaks of
heads and arms on the blinds, resembled t