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.
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