as I have
seen her thousands of times, as I shall never see her again--and then
stole back to my room. My own love! with all your wealth, and all your
beauty, how friendless you are! The one man who would give his heart's
life to serve you is far away, tossing, this stormy night, on the awful
sea. Who else is left to you? No father, no brother--no living
creature but the helpless, useless woman who writes these sad lines,
and watches by you for the morning, in sorrow that she cannot compose,
in doubt that she cannot conquer. Oh, what a trust is to be placed in
that man's hands to-morrow! If ever he forgets it--if ever he injures a
hair of her head!----

THE TWENTY-SECOND OF DECEMBER. Seven o'clock. A wild, unsettled
morning. She has just risen--better and calmer, now that the time has
come, than she was yesterday.

Ten o'clock. She is dressed. We have kissed each other--we have
promised each other not to lose courage. I am away for a moment in my
own room. In the whirl and confusion of my thoughts, I can detect that
strange fancy of some hindrance happening to stop the marriage still
hanging about my mind. Is it hanging about HIS mind too? I see him
from the window, moving hither and thither uneasily among the carriages
at the door.--How can I write such folly! The marriage is a certainty.
In less than half an hour we start for the church.

Eleven o'clock. It is all over. They are married.

Three o'clock. They are gone! I am blind with crying--I can write no
more----

* * * * * * * * * *

[The First Epoch of the Story closes here.]

THE SECOND EPOCH

THE STORY CONTINUED BY MARIAN HALCOMBE.

I

BLACKWATER PARK, HAMPSHIRE.

June 11th, 1850.--Six months to look back on--six long, lonely months
since Laura and I last saw each other!

How many days have I still to wait? Only one! To-morrow, the twelfth,
the travellers return to England. I can hardly realise my own
happiness--I can hardly believe that the next four-and-twenty hours
will complete the last day of separation between Laura and me.

She and her husband have been in Italy all the winter, and afterwards
in the Tyrol. They come back, accompanied by Count Fosco and his wife,
who propose to settle somewhere in the neighbourhood of London, and who
have engaged to stay at Blackwater Park for the summer months before
deciding on a place of residence. So long as Laura returns, no matter
who re