She never forgot the day of his departure--it was one
of those hot days when the summer skies seemed to be half obscured by a
copper-colored haze, when the green leaves hang languidly, and the birds
seek the coolest shade, when the flowers droop with thirst, and never a
breath of air stir their blossoms, when there is no picture so
refreshing to the senses as that of a cool deep pool in the recesses of
a wood.
She stood at the grand entrance, watching him depart, and she knew that
with all her beauty, her grace, her talent, her sovereignty, no one had
ever loved her as this man did. Then, after he was gone, she stood still
on the broad stone terrace, with that strange smile on her face, which
seemed to mar while it deepened her beauty.
"It will be a full revenge," she said to herself. "There could be no
fuller. But what shall I do when it is all known?"
She was not one to flinch from the course of action she had marked out
for herself, nor from the consequences of that course; but she shuddered
even in the heat, as she thought what her life would be when her
vengeance was taken.
"He will never forgive me," she said, "he will look upon me as the
wickedest of women.
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