I shall but walk to the wood-side as
to-day, that little path to the hut is quickly trod, and he will be
waiting there. I shall be safe then, safe as I care to be.--Why do I
stand here reasoning thus? Safe? And if I were not, what is it to me
now? The dark plan is laid. The fearful acting now is all that's left
for me.
This must go to the lodge to-night, and ere my mother returns;--to tell
them now, would be to make my scheme impossible.
(_She begins, with a reluctant air, to fold the dresses,
which are lying loosely by her_.)
Oh God! whence do these dark and horrible thoughts grow?--Nay, feeling
not born of thought. That wedding robe looks like a shroud to me! I
cannot. Shadows from things unseen are upon me. The future is a night of
tempest, where I hear nothing but the breaking boughs, and the whirl and
crash of the mourning blast. Oh God! there is no refuge for the fearful,
but in thee.--To thee--no. If there is power in prayer of mine, hath it
not already doomed that wicked cause, my fate is linked with now. I
cannot pray.--Can I not?--How the pure strength comes welling up from
its infinite depths.
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