Colwood, only more sickening, more paralyzing. And it was a fear which
ran back to and linked itself with the hour of heart-searching in the
wood. What was Fanny thinking of?--what was in her mind--on her lips?
Impulses she could not have defined, terrors to which she could give no
name, crept over Diana's will and disabled it. She trembled from head to
foot--and gave way.
She walked up to her cousin.
"Fanny, is there any letter--anything of grandpapa's--or of my
mother's--that you could show me?"
"No! It was a promise, I tell you--there was no writing. But my mother
could swear to it."
The girl faced her cousin without flinching. Diana sat down again, white
and tremulous, the moment of energy, of resistance, gone. In a wavering
voice she began to explain that she had, in fact, been inquiring into
her affairs, that the money was not actually at her disposal, that to
provide it would require an arrangement with her bankers, and the
depositing of some securities; but that, before long, it should be
available.
Fanny drew a long breath. She had not expected the surrender. Her eyes
sparkled, and she began to stammer thanks.
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