There he
enquired for Sybil, in whose hands, and whose hands alone he
was enjoined to deposit them. She was still absent, but
faithful to his instructions, Mick would deliver his charge to
none other, and exhausted by the fatigues of the terrible day,
he remained in the court-yard of the Convent, lying down with
the box for his pillow until Sybil under the protection of
Egremont herself returned. Then he fulfilled his mission.
Sybil was too agitated at the moment to perceive all its
import, but she delivered the box into the custody of
Egremont, who desiring Mick to follow him to his hotel bade
farewell to Sybil, who equally with himself, was then ignorant
of the fatal encounter on Mowbray Moor.
We must drop a veil over the anguish which its inevitable and
speedy revelation brought to the daughter of Gerard. Her love
for her father was one of those profound emotions which seemed
to form a constituent part of her existence. She remained for
a long period in helpless woe, soothed only by the sacred
cares of Ursula. There was another mourner in this season of
sorrow who must not be forgotten; and that was Lady Marney.
All that tenderness and the most considerate thought could
devise to soften sorrow and reconcile her to a change of life
which at the first has in it something depressing were
extended by Egremont to Arabella.
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