"I
had reason to believe, Colonel Colleton, that the present melancholy
circumstances of your family were such as might excuse an intrusion
which may have the effect of making them less so; which, indeed, may go
far toward the prevention of that painful event which you now
contemplate as certain."
The words were electrical in their effect upon both father and daughter.
The former rose from his chair, and motioned the stranger to be seated;
while the daughter, rapidly rising also, with an emotion which gave new
life to her form, inquired breathlessly--
"Speak, sir! say--how!"--and she lingered and listened with figure bent
sensibly forward, and hand uplifted and motionless, for reply. The
person addressed smiled with visible effort, while slight shades of
gloom, like the thin clouds fleeting over the sky at noonday, obscured
at intervals the otherwise subdued and even expression of his
countenance. He looked at the maiden while speaking, but his words were
addressed to her father.
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