Yes, here am I come to pledge
myself to the fulfilment of his wish. If you deem a
heart-broken girl not unworthy of you, I am your wife,
Sir Everard; and, recollect, it is a solemn pledge, that
which a sister gives over the lifeless body of a brother,
beloved as this has been."
"Oh, Clara--dearest Clara," passionately exclaimed the
excited young man, "if a life devoted to your happiness
can repay you for this, count upon it as you would upon
your eternal salvation. In you will I love both my friend
and the sister he has bequeathed to me. Clara, my
betrothed wife, summon all the energies of your nature
to sustain this cruel shock; and exert yourself for him
who will be to you both a brother and a husband."
As he spoke he drew the unresisting girl towards him,
and, locking her in his embrace, pressed, for the first
time, the lips, which it had maddened him the preceding
night to see polluted by the forcible kisses of Wacousta.
But Clara shared not, but merely suffered his momentary
happiness. Her cheek wore not the crimson of excitement,
neither were her tears discontinued. She seemed as one
who mechanically submitted to what she had no power of
resistance to oppose; and even in the embrace of her
affianced husband, she exhibited the same deathlike calm
that had startled him at her first appearance.
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