In
that fearful work of preparation, the spirit of love could acknowledge
no restraining influence, and never was embrace more fond than that of
Ralph and the maiden. Much of his uncle's consolation was found in the
better disposition which he now entertained, though at too late a day,
in favor of their passion. He would now willingly consent to all.
"Had you not been so precipitate, Ralph--" he said, "had you not been so
proud--had you thought at all, or given me time for thought, all this
trial had been spared us. Was I not irritated by other things when I
spoke to you unkindly? You knew not how much I had been chafed--you
should not have been so hasty."
"No more of this, uncle, I pray you. I was wrong and rash, and I blame
you not. I have nobody but myself to reproach. Speak not of the matter;
but, as the best preparation for all that is to come, let your thought
banish me rather from contemplation. Why should the memory of so fair a
creature as this be haunted by a story such as mine? Why should she
behold, in her mind's eye, for ever, the picture of my dying
agonies--the accursed scaffold--the--" and the emotion of his soul, at
the subject of his own contemplation, choked him in his utterance, while
Edith, half-fainting in his arms, prayed his forbearance.
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