I knew that the use of my house and furniture would amply
compensate her for all Mabel's expenses, among the principal of which
would be that liberal education which I demanded for her, as her right.
I was very nearly twenty, now; Mabel, ten. There was still time to
redeem the past, and carry out all my frustrated intentions, after the
expiration of one year of abeyance and exile. Yes! I would "stand and
wait," trusting so "to serve."
_LIFE AT "LESDERNIER."_
"Break the dance and scatter the song,
Some depart, and some remain;
_These_ beyond heaven are borne along,
Others the bonds of earth retain."
SHELLEY.
PART II.
_LIFE AT "LESDERNIER."_
AN INTERLUDE.
I purpose here to give only a brief sketch of my sojourn under the roof
of the La Vignes. In another book, and at another time, when some that
now live shall have passed away, or years shall have made dim the memory
of results rather than events (for until _then_ the last must continue,
with their causes, to be _mysteries_), I may unfold the tissues of a
dire tragedy enacted, by some strange providence, under my peculiar view
alone, and thus inexplicable to others.
Of this no more, not even a hint, at present; lest, dropping the
substance for the shadow, the reader should cease to find interest where
I most wish to concentrate it for a season.
Pages:
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271