They were not more than two or three minutes together,
and on their separating she left the room with Mrs. Vesey, while
Sir Percival came to me. He said he had entreated her to favour
him by maintaining her privilege of fixing the time for the
marriage at her own will and pleasure. In reply she had merely
expressed her acknowledgments, and had desired him to mention what
his wishes were to Miss Halcombe.
I have no patience to write more. In this instance, as in every
other, Sir Percival has carried his point with the utmost possible
credit to himself, in spite of everything that I can say or do.
His wishes are now, what they were, of course, when he first came
here; and Laura having resigned herself to the one inevitable
sacrifice of the marriage, remains as coldly hopeless and enduring
as ever. In parting with the little occupations and relics that
reminded her of Hartright, she seems to have parted with all her
tenderness and all her impressibility. It is only three o'clock
in the afternoon while I write these lines, and Sir Percival has
left us already, in the happy hurry of a bride-groom, to prepare
for the bride's reception at his house in Hampshire. Unless some
extraordinary event happens to prevent it they will be married
exactly at the time when he wished to be married--before the end
of the year.
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