The gay
visions with which I had delighted myself, vanished in an instant.
I was tortured with tracing back the same circle of doubt and
disappointment. My head grew dizzy as I thought. I called the
servant again, and asked her a hundred questions, to no purpose;
there was not room even for conjecture.
"Something at last arose in my mind, which we call Hope, without
knowing what it is. I wished myself deluded by it; but it could not
prevail over my returning fears. I rose and walked through the
room. My Emily's spinnet stood at the end of it, open, with a book
of music folded down at some of my favourite lessons. I touched the
keys; there was a vibration in the sound that froze my blood; I
looked around, and methought the family pictures on the walls gazed
on me with compassion in their faces. I sat down again with an
attempt at more composure; I started at every creaking of the door,
and my ears rung with imaginary noises!
"I had not remained long in this situation, when the arrival of a
friend, who had accidentally heard of my return, put an end to my
doubts, by the recital of my daughter's dishonour. He told me he
had his information from a young gentleman, to whom Winbrooke had
boasted of having seduced her.
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