But presently he leaned over her, and kissed her.
"Oh!" she cried, with a sudden loudness that rang through the quiet
room, "you know all! You know how wicked I am. But you don't know how
lonely and wretched I have been. I tried to break myself of it I did try
to keep from it; but it was always there on the table when I sat down to
my meals with Aunt Bolton; and I could always find comfort in it. Oh!
help me! Don't cast me off; don't hate me. Help me."
"I will help you," he answered, earnestly; but he could say no more. The
mere sound of the words she spoke unnerved him.
"And I have made you miserable just as you are coming home!" she went
on. "I never meant to do that. But I was so restless, looking forward to
to-morrow; and aunt's maid advised me to take a little, for fear I
should be quite ill when you came. I should have been all right
to-morrow; and I was so resolved never to touch it again, after you had
come home. You are come back quite strong, are you? There is no more
fear for you? Oh! I will conquer myself; I must conquer myself. If it
had not always been in my sight, and the doctors had not ordered it, I
should never have been so wicked.
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