For all the perplexity that surrounded me, I felt my
spirits considerably buoyant. It appeared that I was rid of the two
greatest bars to my happiness, by what agency I knew not. My
mother, it seemed, was gone, who had become a grievous thorn in
my side of late; and my great companion and counsellor, who
tyrannized over every spontaneous movement of my heart, had
likewise taken himself off. This last was an unspeakable relief;
for I found that for a long season I had only been able to act by
the motions of his mysterious mind and spirit. I therefore thanked
God for my deliverance, and strode through my woods with a
daring and heroic step; with independence in my eye, and
freedom swinging in my right hand.
At the extremity of the Colwan wood, I perceived a figure
approaching me with slow and dignified motion. The moment
that I beheld it, my whole frame received a shock as if the ground
on which I walked had sunk suddenly below me. Yet, at that
moment, I knew not who it was; it was the air and motion of
someone that I dreaded, and from whom I would gladly have
escaped; but this I even had not power to attempt.
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