He sunk back on the sofa, and burst into tears.  Hope had suddenly sprung up from the dark void which had been in his heart.  Mrs. Hamilton could not check that suddenly-excited hope, but she did not share it, for she felt it came but to deceive.  She whispered gentle and consoling words, she spoke of comfort that she could not feel.  But once his energies aroused, they did not fail him.  To go instantly to Paris, to seek Mr. Greville, and plead his own cause, aided by his father’s influence, acknowledge he had been wrong in not asking his consent before, such thoughts now alone occupied his mind, and Mr. Hamilton could not check them, though, even as his wife, he shared not his son’s sanguine expectations.  That he had once possessed more influence than any one else over Mr. Greville he well knew; but he thought with Percy, the dislike felt towards him originated from this, and that it was more than probable he would remain firm in his refusal to triumph over both himself and his son; yet he could not hesitate to comply with Herbert’s wishes.  Ellen’s suggestion had roused him to exertion, and he should not be permitted to sink back into despondency, at least they should meet.

It would be difficult to define Ellen’s feelings as she beheld her work, and marked the effect of her words upon her cousin.  Not a particle of selfishness mingled in her feelings, but that deep pang was yet unconquered.  Herbert’s manner to her was even kinder, more affectionate than usual, during the few days that intervened ere they parted, as if he felt that she had drawn aside the dark veil of impenetrable gloom, and summoned hope to rise again; and could she see or feel this unmoved?  Still was she calm and tranquil, and she would speak of Mary and of brighter hopes, and no emotion was betrayed in her pale cheek or in that tearless eye.

Percy accompanied his father and brother.  They travelled rapidly, and a favourable voyage enabled them to reach Paris in a shorter time than usual.  Mr. Hamilton had insisted on seeking Mr. Greville’s mansion at first alone, and Percy controlled his own feelings.  To calm the strong emotion, the deep anxiety, that now he was indeed in the same city as his Mary, almost overpowered Herbert; the struggle for composure, for resignation to whatever might be the will of his God, was too powerful for his exhausted strength.  Sleep had only visited him by snatches, short and troubled, since he had received Mary’s letter; the long interval which elapsed ere Mr. Hamilton returned was productive of even keener suffering than he had yet endured.  Hope had sunk powerless before anxiety; the strength of mind which had borne him up so long was giving way beneath the exhaustion of bodily powers, which Percy saw with alarm and sorrow; his eyes had lost their lustre, and were becoming dim and haggard; more than once he observed a slight shudder pass through his frame, and felt his words of cheering and of comfort fell unheeded on his brother’s ear.  At length Mr. Hamilton returned.