Years have passed, my sister,
but never have I forgotten the companion of my infancy!" He advanced to
Sarah, and, unconscious of observation, placing the ring on her finger,
continued, "She for whom it was intended has long been in her grave, and
the youth who bestowed the gift soon followed her sainted spirit; take
it, madam, and God grant that it may be an instrument in making you as
happy as you deserve!"
Sarah felt a chill at her heart, as this burst of feeling escaped the
surgeon; but Wellmere offering his hand, she was led before the divine,
and the ceremony began. The first words of this imposing office produced
a dead stillness in the apartment; and the minister of God proceeded to
the solemn exhortation, and witnessed the plighted troth of the
parties, when the investiture was to follow. The ring had been left,
from inadvertency and the agitation of the moment, on the finger where
Sitgreaves had placed it; the slight interruption occasioned by the
circumstance was over, and the clergyman was about to proceed, when a
figure gliding into the midst of the party, at once put a stop to the
ceremony. It was the peddler. His look was bitter and ironical, while a
finger, raised towards the divine, seemed to forbid the ceremony to go
any further.
"Can Colonel Wellmere waste the precious moments here, when his wife has
crossed the ocean to meet him? The nights are long, and the moon bright;
a few hours will take him to the city.
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