g, and you will conquer him at once. That is what I
think. You will excuse what I say, Mrs. Trevelyan."
"Oh, Mr. Glascock, you have been such a friend! What should we have
done without you!"
"You cannot take to heart the words that come from a disordered
reason. In truth, he believes no ill of you."
"But he says so."
"It is hard to know what he says. Declare that you will submit to
him, and I think that he will be softened towards you. Try to bring
him back to his own country. It may be that were he to--die there,
alone, the memory of his loneliness would be heavy with you in after
days." Then, having so spoken, he rushed off, declaring, with a
forced laugh, that Caroline Spalding would never forgive him.
The next day was the day of the wedding, and Emily Trevelyan was
left all alone. It was of course out of the question that she should
join any party the purport of which was to be festive. Sir Marmaduke
went with some grumbling, declaring that wine and severe food in the
morning were sins against the plainest rules of life. And the three
Rowley girls went, Nora officiating as one of the bridesmaids. But
Mrs. Trevelyan was left with her boy, and during the day she was
forced to resolve what should be the immediate course of her life.
Two days after the wedding her family would return to England. It was
open to her to go with them, and to take her boy with her. But a few
days since how happy she would have been could she have been made to
believe that such a mode of returning would be within her power! But
now she felt that she might not return and leave that poor, suffering
wretch behind her. As she thought of him she tried to interrogate
herself in regard to her feelings. Was it love, or duty, or
compassion which stirred her? She had loved him as fondly as any
bright young woman loves the man who is to take her away from
everything else, and make her a part of his house and of himself.
She had loved him as Nora now loved the man whom she worshipped and
thought to be a god, doing godlike work in the dingy recesses of the
D. R. office. Emily Trevelyan was forced to tell herself that all
that was over with her. Her husband had shown himself to be weak,
suspicious, unmanly,--by no means like a god. She had learned to feel
that she could not trust her comfort in his hands,--that she could
never know what his thoughts of her might be. But still he was her
husband, and the father of her child; and though she could
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