the continuance of moderate resentment to this flood
of tenderness. Of course he stood with his arm
round her waist, and of course he returned her caresses;
but he did it with such stiff constraint that she
at once felt how chill they were. ‘There,’
she said, smiling through her bitter tears,—’there;
you are released now, and not even my fingers shall
ever be laid upon you again. If I have annoyed
you, at this our last meeting, you must forgive me.’
‘No;—but you cut me to the heart.’
’That we can hardly help;—can we? When two persons have made fools of themselves as we have, there must I suppose be some punishment. Yours will never be heavy after I am gone. I do not start...