If there are in my body, or my society, any
merits to please a man, they have fallen to him under the law of
Providence, that he that hath shall receive. I pity your illness, dear
mamma, but I fear Mr. Milburn is ill, too, for he has not been here all
night, though he left me at the church-gate."
"I hope the viper is dead!" Mrs. Custis said, with great clearness, and
energized it by sitting up in bed. Roxy left the room.
"I hope he has been murdered," said Mrs. Custis, "and that the murderer
will never be discovered. If there is any spirit of the McLanes left in
my brothers and nephews, they will wipe out, in blood, the insult of
this marriage between my daughter and the man who set a trap upon the
honor of a respectable family."
Vesta arose with a pale, troubled face, yet with some of her mother's
prejudice flashing back.
"He can defend himself, mamma. I shall go to seek him now, since he is
so much hated for me."
She returned to her room, and put on a walking-suit, and made her
toilet. In the library Vesta found her father dozing in a large chair,
with his feet upon a leather sofa, and a silk handkerchief drawn across
his crown, under which were the dry beds of tears that had coursed down
his cheeks. She saw, with a touch of joy, that the sherry in the
decanter was untouched, and the two glasses were still clean: he had not
relapsed into his habits, even while making an all-night vigil to wait
for the unwelcome son-in-law.
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