She had made the
offer, and he had refused it! That was all. No; she would not be
driven to confess to herself that she had ever fled from the face of
man or woman. This man would be again in London, and she could not
always fly. It would be only necessary that she should maintain her
own composure, and the misery of the meeting would pass away after
the first few minutes. One consolation was assured to her. She
thoroughly believed in the man,--feeling certain that he had not
betrayed her, and would not betray her. But now, as the time
for the meeting drew near, as she stood for a moment before the
glass,--pretending to look at herself in order that her maid might
not remark her uneasiness, she found that her courage, great as
it was, hardly sufficed her. She almost plotted some scheme of a
headache, by which she might be enabled not to show herself till
after dinner. "I am so blind that I can hardly see out of my eyes,"
she said to the maid, actually beginning the scheme. The woman
assumed a look of painful solicitude, and declared that "Madame did
not look quite her best.
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