Sylvia's Lovers — Volume 3 by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
page 22 of 224 (09%)
page 22 of 224 (09%)
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passed!
Heavy miserable times of endurance and waiting have to be passed through by all during the course of their lives; and Philip had had his share of such seasons, when the heart, and the will, and the speech, and the limbs, must be bound down with strong resolution to patience. For many days, nay, for weeks, he was forbidden to see Sylvia, as the very sound of his footstep brought on a recurrence of the fever and convulsive movement. Yet she seemed, from questions she feebly asked the nurse, to have forgotten all that had happened on the day of her attack from the time when she dropped off to sleep. But how much she remembered of after occurrences no one could ascertain. She was quiet enough when, at length, Philip was allowed to see her. But he was half jealous of his child, when he watched how she could smile at it, while she never changed a muscle of her face at all he could do or say. And of a piece with this extreme quietude and reserve was her behaviour to him when at length she had fully recovered, and was able to go about the house again. Philip thought many a time of the words she had used long before--before their marriage. Ominous words they were. 'It's not in me to forgive; I sometimes think it's not in me to forget.' Philip was tender even to humility in his conduct towards her. But nothing stirred her from her fortress of reserve. And he knew she |
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