We all saw the end was rapidly approaching, but no one had the courage to
tell her. She got so angry with me one day when I suggested bringing Mr.
Lathrop to visit her, that I slipped quietly away to escape the storm I
had raised. I used to go and return with a sense of defeat that paralyzed
all hopeful enthusiasm, and fearing that Mr. Winthrop's displeasure had
probably been a second time incurred, without any corresponding gain to
debit the loss.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE SOUND OF MARRIAGE BELLS.
I came home one day more dispirited than usual. I had found Mrs. Le
Grande weaker than ever, and yet she was clinging tenaciously to life,
and had that morning dictated an order to her dress-maker in New York for
a most elaborate costume. When I tried to urge her to think of something
more enduring than the raiment whose fashion and beauty soon changes, she
forbade me mentioning such a thing again in her presence, nor would she
listen to the Scripture reading on which I always insisted as the one
condition on which I would read to her at all. I knew my own words were
powerless to break the crust of worldliness and selfishness that bound
her heart, but I hoped God's word might pierce it. Hubert had returned
from college a few days before, and just as I entered the oak avenue from
the little footpath through the wood, I met him cantering along on Faery.
"A stranger has just arrived whom you will be surprised to see," he
called to me.
"Any one I know?" I asked carelessly.
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