When I rode home that night I
had made every arrangement for our union in one month from that time.
"So much for Act I., Surry!"
XVII.
THE WILL.
Mohun had commenced his narrative in a mild voice, and with an
expression of great sadness upon his features. As he proceeded,
however, this all disappeared; gradually the voice became harsh and
metallic, so to describe it, and his face resumed that expression of
cynical bitterness which I had observed in him on our first meeting. As
he returned thus, to the past, all its bitterness seemed to revive;
memory lashed him with its stinging whip; and Mohun had gone back to
his "first phase,"--that of the man, stern, implacable, and
misanthropic.
After uttering the words, "So much for Act I., Surry!" he paused. A
moment afterward, however, he resumed his narrative.
"What I am now going to tell you is not agreeable to remember, my dear
Surry, and I shall accordingly relate every thing as briefly as
possible. I aim only to give you a clear conception of the tragedy. You
will form your own opinion.
"I was impolite enough in introducing _Miss Mortimer_ to you, at the
parsonage, to describe that young lady as a 'devil.' No doubt the term
shocked you, and yet it conveyed something very like the exact truth. I
declare to you that this woman was, and is still, a marvel to me, a
most curious study.
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