And blended with them the thought of one who had been for a
season the kind and gentle companion of her girlhood--that Mr
Franklin whom she had never quite forgotten, and who, alas!
was not Mr Franklin after all. Ah! that was a wonderful
history; a somewhat thrilling chapter in the memory of one so
innocent and so young! His voice even now lingered in her
ear. She recalled without an effort those tones of the
morning, tones of tenderness and yet of wisdom and considerate
thought, that had sounded only for her welfare. Never had
Egremont appeared to her in a light so subduing. He was what
man should be to woman ever-gentle, and yet a guide. A
thousand images dazzling and wild rose in her mind; a thousand
thoughts, beautiful and quivering as the twilight, clustered
round her heart; for a moment she indulged in impossible
dreams, and seemed to have entered a newly-discovered world.
The horizon of her experience expanded like the glittering
heaven of a fairy tale. Her eye was fixed in lustrous
contemplation, the flush on her cheek was a messenger from her
heart, the movement of her mouth would have in an instant
become a smile, when the clock of St John's struck four, and
Sybil started from her reverie.
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