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SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 119
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Chapter I. Two Men Sat Together In A Sin...
bad--hoped for solace and comfort from this man whom she had served well and loved welland whoin her utmost needrevealed
the utter sterility of his heart , , it seeme , d some terrific jest , of , fate . Her white liparted with a smile and the over-wrought nerves
gave way , as ps she laughed that strange hysteric laugh which expresses sorrow more keenly than tears .
Arthur jumped up in dismay . " It was really too bad , " he thought , " that he should be exposed to this" and a kind of hysteria rose in his
own throat , partly from nervous irritabilit ; y and weakness , partly from _, self-compassionAt last he recovered himselfhe tried to soothe his
. , cousin , and then he left the room ostensibly to call her maid , but in . truth to get out of the waywith a firm resolution . " qu ' on ne V y
prendrait plusr _" She is a , good creature , " he thoug , ht , " but had I suspected she possessed a tithe of this violence and vehemence , I
would have as soon thought of the interior of Vesuvius as my home . So calm and quiet as she always seemed . No , I never
could have believed it . " It never occurred to him for a moment that he was not the sole
cause of her agitation . If the angels who look down upon the thoughts of us erring mortals have any sense of humor , there must
be something pitiably comic to them in the mistakes caused by our vanitand selfishness . That eveningas Arthur smoked his cigar
and stretched y himself on the sofathe , most comfortable one in the house , which had been put into his , room by his cousin , there was
something irresistibly absurd in his lamentations . " It is extremely unfortunate" he murmured" but who would
,, have believed it ? I certainly liked Dora very much ( too thin and tall though ) and was glad she liked me . I might have made love
to her , too , at odd moments I confess , ( she has a deuced fine comlexion ) and I was mortified when I found she was engaged to
p Wyndham , . But what of that , I could never marry her , or any other womanwho has not a farthing . A penniless , unconnected
wife for a man , in a public career , is a sheer impossibility ; besides , I am too young yet for marriageunless it were with an earl ' s
, daughter , with twenty thousand pounds a year . This is a bore . I hate such scenes ; women , the best of them , have such ill-regulated
feelings . I am sorry for my poor aunt , but it is really too trying to stay here ; all this disturbance shatters my nerves . Dora should
have remembered I have only just recovered from a serious illness , yet it is a confounded bore to move for a week or so ; in fact they
have been very good-natured to me , and after all it is better than an hotel . Pshaw ! it cannot be helped . "
. At the end of these conflicting thoughts , he rose and commenced making some preparations for his departure . The next morning he
sent to know how his aunt was . He heard she was much worse ; that Dora had been up with her all night , and could not leave her .
His heart smote him ;• he remembered , however selfishly , that she ,
whom he was now leaving to bear a heavy sorrow alone , had watched
Success And Failure. 119
SUCCESS AND FAILURE . 119
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1859, page 119, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041859/page/47/
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