The mild
blue eyes of Clara met those that were fastened in
tenderness upon her, and a corresponding movement on her
part brought the more matronly form of her cousin into
close and affectionate contact with her own.
"Oh, Madeline, what a day is this!" she exclaimed; "and
how often on my bended knees have I prayed to Heaven that
it might arrive! Our trials are ended at last, and
happiness and joy are once more before us. There is the
boat that is to conduct us to the vessel, which, in its
turn, is to bear me to the arms of my dear father, and
you to those of the lover who adores you. How beautiful
does that fabric appear to me now! Never did I feel half
the pleasure in surveying it I do at this moment."
"Dear, dear girl!" exclaimed Miss de Haldimar,--and she
pressed her closer and in silence to her heart: then,
after a slight pause, during which the mantling glow upon
her brow told how deeply she desired the reunion alluded
to by her cousin--"that, indeed, will be an hour of
happiness to us both, Clara; for irrevocably as our
affections have been pledged, it would be silly in the
extreme to deny that I long most ardently to be restored
to him who is already my husband.
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