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THE PORTRAIT. 389
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.
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?- ¦ Chapter Ix.
I felt as if changing into stone . My eyes were riveted on those of Cleveland . I had lost tlie power to withdraw them . My hand
convulsively grasped his ; and thus I stood and listened until all grew dark ; the room swamroundand in the darkness and in the whirl I
, , only saw the burning eyes , and heard strange wild words from the husband of Mrs . Bethune ! ¦ _%
- _% ¦ ie- & _^? a- _•& c ( How deucedly fond Cleveland must be of his wife I" was the
exclamation which recalled me to a conscious sense of where I was and what had passed , uttered by Mr . Martyn in a pettish tone as
he wiped the perspiration from his forehead , and threw back the collar of his coat . " I met him flying along , " he continued , " as if
anxious to annihilate both time and space ; in fact , he very nearly knocked me over : and had he not turned round to apologise , I should
not have recognised him in the dusk . Nothing would induce him to come back with mealthough I wanted very much to have a talk
, with him . I wish his love may not be too hot to last . " This was the inference drawn from the unhappy Cleveland's
non-acceptance of the invitation to " have a , talk ; " proving the truth of how little one man knows what is passing in the
mind of another . I was next assailed by a host of questions , to which I returned such incoherent answers , that the patience
of the interrogator finally became exhausted , his temper more ruffledand at an earlier hour than usual he retired , and
I was alone , with my misery . I now found my _j _> revious discipline of incalculable servicethat discipline which women , have so
constantly to undergo ; I mean , , the being required to _wear a tranquil seeming even when the spirit is in torture and the heart throbbing
with pain . For Cleveland ' s sake as well as my own , I knew that the sooner I could sustain the calmness requisite under the
circumstances , the sooner would the conflict be over . I was anxious for another interviewto efface as far as possible from his mind the
painful remembrance , of that our first meeting ; to put him at ease , _hy concealing how much suffering the mistake had cost me , for on
reflection I concluded that , absorbed in his own passionate sorrow , he had not dreamt that I too was wounded by the same sharp
arrow . To soften his trial , to aid him to perform duties he had vowed to fulfil , must now be my task . The armour of self-control
had again to be put on . Again the calmness of a tranquil friendship must be assumed , to be realized , I hoped , at no far-off period .
And more than this had to be done , and done by me alone , for none other had the power . And this wasto clear Mrs . Bethune .
, in the eyes of her husband from premeditated deception , otherwise her happiness would suffer shipwreck . How best to effect this , cost
me anxiotLS _hotirs of thought . I had , yes , I was forced to confess , that I had my misgivings of the conduct of Mrs . Bethune . The
keen edge of her conscience must have become blunted , and her love have blinded her in more ways than one . It was aow clear to me
V
The Portrait. 389
THE PORTRAIT . 389
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1861, page 389, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081861/page/29/
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