'She does not care;
but--but there's no one like her. No--she does not care,' he thought;
and she let him think it: but her heart swelled to her throat, and she
felt as if she could have screamed, 'Come back--my only love--my
darling--without you I must die!' But she did not raise her head. She
only read on, steadily, old Miss Wardle's letter--over and over--the
same half-dozen lines. And when, after five minutes more, she lifted up
her eyes, the hoary poplars were ruffling their thick leaves in the
breeze--and he gone; and the plaintive music came mellowed from the
village, and the village and the world seemed all on a sudden empty for
her.
CHAPTER XXXV.
IN WHICH AUNT BECKY AND DOCTOR TOOLE, IN FULL BLOW, WITH DOMINICK, THE
FOOTMAN, BEHIND THEM, VISIT MISS LILY AT THE ELMS.
After such leave-takings, especially where something like a revelation
takes place, there sometimes supervenes, I'm told, a sort of excitement
before the chill and ache of separation sets in. So, Lily, when she went
home, found that her music failed her, all but the one strange little
air, 'The river ran between them;' and then she left the harpsichord and
went into the garden through the glass door, but the flowers had only
half their interest, and the garden was solitary, and she felt restless,
as if she were going to make a journey, or looking for strange news; and
then she bethought her again of Mrs.
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