O, no!
God forbid that even the human heart can love, and, at the same time,
persecute the object of its affections! It was her estates; and she half
resolved to compromise with her tormentor by yielding him one-half of
her property, on the condition of his restoring the other half, for she
doubted not that he was able to do so. But there was something so
debasing to her sentiment of truth and justice in the fact of
bargaining with so base a man, that she could not conquer her prejudice,
and finally determined to suffer everything rather than succumb to the
villain.
Hope had not yet abandoned her. She had too much confidence in the
omnipresent justice of an overruling Providence to doubt that all would
yet end well.
Dido was her jailer, and she scarcely left the office, through which
alone egress was had from the apartment of Emily. There she dozed away
the day and night, freely indulging in the fashionable habit of
"imbibing," to chase away the _ennui_ of the heavy hours. Her liberal
perquisites enabled her to gratify her appetite without stint or
measure, though a sort of demi-consciousness of her responsibility
deterred her from an entire abandonment to the pleasures of the cup.
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