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resolved to turn back and join us, and was again and again restrained by
the pride and anger of which she was the slave. Proud of heart as she was,
she bathed her pillow with nightly tears, and through the day was subdued
by nervous agitation and expectation of the dreaded event, which she was
wholly incapable of curbing. She confessed that at this period her hatred
of me knew no bounds, since she considered me as the sole obstacle to the
fulfilment of her dearest wish, that of attending upon her daughter in her
last moments. She desired to express her fears to her son, and to seek
consolation from his sympathy with, or courage from his rejection of, her
auguries.
On the first day of her arrival at Dover she walked with him on the sea
beach, and with the timidity characteristic of passionate and exaggerated
feeling was by degrees bringing the conversation to the desired point, when
she could communicate her fears to him, when the messenger who bore my
letter announcing our temporary return to Windsor, came riding down to
them. He gave some oral account of how he had left us, and added, that
notwithstanding the cheerfulness and good courage of Lady Idris, he was
afraid that she would hardly reach Windsor alive. "True," said the Countess,
"your fears are just, she is about to expire!"
As she spoke, her eyes were fixed on a tomblike hollow of the cliff, and
she saw, she averred the same to me with solemnity, Idris pacing slowly
towards this cave. She was turned from her, her head was bent down, her
white dress was such as she was accustomed to wear, except that a thin
crape-like veil covered her golden tresses, and concealed her as a dim
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