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390 THE PORTRAIT.
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.
that even in Paris _slie must have set up Cleveland as her idol ; and never knowing * ' opposition to her -wishes , she could still less brook
it here , and circumstances had aided her in gaining * her point . CHAPTER X .
I _looked forward rather nervously to a second visit from Clevelandwhen ray resolved-upon duty was to be performed , and I
was It sooner 'was , Sunday called to and its Mr performance . .. Martynimmedi than I atel had y antici after pated the morning . 1
, , service , had gone to Kew , where his wife was staying' with her sick friendwhen I heard a rap at the street door , and , in a few minutes
after , Mr , . Cleveland was announced . A momentary agitation ensued , and then with the quiet desperation of one who knowing his hour
is come , walks with firm tread to the scaffold , I armed myself for my task . Suffice it to say , that I accomplished my purpose so far as
the power was in my own hands . Clevelandwith ashy lips and rigid face _5 looked calm certainly ,
, but it was a calmness oppressive to witness ; and I would rather have listened to the wild passionate outbreaks of the previous
night , than have been compelled to gaze on that marble grief , fixed , immovable and stern . . I did not give myself time to look at him ,
but in violent contrast to his profound seriousness I talked in a light jesting- manner . In fact this was the only method I could
adopt as likely to insure success . I was in the condition of a traveller who has a bog * to cross , and who if wise tries to trip
across it rapidly , as a pause might prove fatal to his enterprise . _Cleveland once or twice looked at me in a way that seemed to say ,
"Is it possible ? Can she really be so heartless , so careless ?" But I paid no heed , as I spoke of " singular changes taking place— :
of Mrs . Cleveland " —Ah ! had he known what an effort it cost to pronounce _tliat name , " Of her being under the impression that I
was engaged from my once having hinted as much—Of wisdom coming with years "—and so forth .
my " rather Miss Lindores discursive , pardon speeches me / ' " said and permit Cleveland , me , interrupting ¦ to ask again one one of
, question : "Were you _eng'aged when in Paris ? I must have mis-Tinderstood you the other evening , for the impression left on my
mind was to the contrary . " I blushed , because I had to depart slightly from the truthand
, Cleveland thought I blushed because I referred to my _engagement : I was forced to . permit' him so to think , otherwise all would be
undone . The precise words I used I scarcely remember ; it was the fact I wished to imprint on his memory ; the fact that Mrs . Bethune
considered me engaged at that time . . ... . .. ' " I am bound in honor to Believe all you say , and it is my duty
now and for ever to be silent , but , " continued Cleveland , " I would iain ask a few more questions . " Pie spoke entreatingly . .
"No , no /' . I exclaimed hurriedly , ( what torture I endured !)
390 The Portrait.
390 THE PORTRAIT .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1861, page 390, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081861/page/30/
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