"Proud and wilful as I am, _he_ could bend me to his will. I mistook your energy for power, and thought you could do so too. I mistook my own heart, and thought I could feel again as I once had felt. Since I discovered the twofold mistake, there has been nothing save weariness and vexation of spirit to me. I knew it should end--do not wonder I am now glad and relieved that it is ended."
She spoke in the tone with which she had said "I am weary;" the lustre had left her eyes, the colour her cheek; her mien was again languid and careless. She cast an indifferent look around her, drew the silk scarf which she wore, closer over her shoulders, turned away, and left the room without once looking back.
A deep silence, that seemed as if it never could end, followed her departure. Kate sat in her usual place, her look sadly fixed on her brother. His face was supported and partly shaded by his hand. He neither moved nor spoke. At length his sister rose and went up to him. She laid her hand on his shoulder, and stooping, said gently--
"Cornelius!"
He looked up at her wistfully, and said, in a low tone--
"Kate, I thought her little less than an angel; what a poor dupe I have been!"
"But you will bear it," she said earnestly, "I know you will."
"Yes," he answered, though his lip trembled a little as he said it; "it is hard, but it is not more than a man can bear."
He rose as he spoke.
"Where are you going?" asked Kate, detaining him.
"Out; do not be uneasy about me, Kate."
"But it is pouring fast."
"Never mind."
His lips touched her brow--he left the room--we heard the street-door close upon him, and in the silence which followed, the low, rushing sound of the rain.
"Poor fellow! poor fellow!" sadly said Kate, and, looking at one another, we began to cry.
END OF VOL. I.