The arrangements under
which they quit the house I leave to your discretion; and I have only
to add that my decision on this matter, as on all other matters, is
positive and final."
Line by line--without once looking up from the pages before her
--Magdalen read those atrocious sentences through, from beginning to
end. The other persons assembled in the room, all eagerly looking at her
together, saw the dress rising and falling faster and faster over her
bosom--saw the hand in which she lightly held the manuscript at the
outset close unconsciously on the paper and crush it, as she advanced
nearer and nearer to the end--but detected no other outward signs of
what was passing within her. As soon as she had done, she silently
pushed the manuscript away, and put her hands on a sudden over her
face. When she withdrew them, all the four persons in the room noticed
a change in her. Something in her expression had altered, subtly and
silently; something which made the familiar features suddenly look
strange, even to her sister and Miss Garth; something, through all after
years, never to be forgotten in connection with that day--and never to
be described.
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