'
"'To Brussels?' faltered Amelia.
"'Of course it is out of the question hampering myself with companions
of any kind at such a moment. Besides, my sister has only afforded me
the means of getting out of the scrape, on condition that _you_ return
to England to your family. I have no longer the power of maintaining
you; but if you are inclined to co-operate in the only plan that can
save us both from starving, Sophia will secure you an allowance of
fifty or sixty pounds a year.'
"Amelia was silent.
"If not, you must take your chance; for I can do nothing further for
you. For Heaven's sake don't treat me with a scene; for I have only a
few minutes to pack up my property! The fiacre is waiting; there
is not a moment to lose. Well, Amelia! what do you say?--I want an
answer. Do you, or do you not choose to go to England?'
"Amelia made an affirmative movement;--she could not utter a
syllable. And Vavasor instantly passed into his own room to make his
preparations for immediate flight.--She never knew in what manner
he took his last leave of her. When the servants proceeded to their
occupations on the following morning, they found her insensible on the
ground; but when restored to consciousness, the continued absence of
her husband and a note of five hundred franks which he had deposited
in her work-box for the purpose of enabling her to quit Paris, served
to prove that the dreadful impression on her mind was not a mere
delusion of the night.
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