The cold cheerless room, the flickering
light, the desolation that was around her, struck more heavily than
ever on her heart. 'Oh! that this were an omen!' she cried, with
clasping hands, as she listened to the howling of the wind upon the
lofty staircase leading to their remote apartments. Drawing closer
over her bosom the wrapper by which she attempted to exclude the
piercing night-air, Amelia smiled at the thought of the chilliness of
the grave,--of the grave, where the heart beats not, and the fixed
glassy eye is incapable of tears.
"'I shall lie among the multitudes of a strange country,' faltered
she; 'there will be no one to point out with officious finger to my
sons, the dishonoured resting-place of their mother,--their _divorced_
mother! Vavasor will be freed from his bondage--free to choose anew,
and commence H more auspicious career. But for me he might have been a
different being. It is _I_ who have hardened his heart and seared his
mind. And oh! may Heaven in its mercy touch them,--that he may deal
gently with me during the last short remnant of our union!'
"A harsh sound interrupted her contemplations;--the grating of his key
in the outer door,--of his step in the ante-room.
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