One thing troubled her--the day of the wedding
was not much over two months distant! Every thing must be done before
then. It was to be hoped that things would take their course with a
reasonable degree of rapidity.
As regarded the favorable result to herself of Bressant's separation
from Sophie, Cornelia seems never to have entertained a doubt. That he
would fall into a state of despair, and of bitterness against all women,
herself included, she was unable, consistently with her confidence in
herself, to believe. Far more natural was it, that, finding Sophie no
longer could care for him, he would seek to repose and refresh his heart
elsewhere: and where so soon as with Cornelia? Indeed it was a mystery
to her how he had ever come to care for Sophie at all; and the reason of
the mystery was, that she had felt a movement of passion in him toward
herself. There was certainly not much similarity between the sisters,
and it was not strange that Cornelia should be inclined to doubt the
validity of her rival's claim to supremacy in Bressant's heart.
Her rival! The current of events had already carried Cornelia a
considerable distance beyond her position on the evening of her return
from New York, when she had excused her beautiful appearance, to
herself, by suggesting that it would not do for the husband of her
sister to detest her! That was sophistry, and it was sophistry that
served her now; but the subjects upon which she exercised it were
becoming hourly more and more ticklish.
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