Jane Loudon

“ Tell me, what is there I can do for you?"
"Nothing!" cried he wildly; "the world is nothing for me now. Pity that unhappy woman that was my wife; and as for me, forget me!"
"Never!" said Elvira; "for never can I forget your disinterested love and your devoted affection. The heart, however, is capricious; and mine, though sensible to your merits, was destined for another."
"And well does that other deserve your love;—for even jealousy itself must own that Roderick is worthy to be your husband. Yes, to him I can resign you. Farewell, Elvira! you shall never see me more! ”

“ It is that I do not love Rosabella—that I never can marry her—that I should be entirely miserable even to think of it—and, that this is my fixed and unalterable determination."
"Heyday!" cried Sir Ambrose; "what is all this? Not marry Rosabella!"
"Never; no tortures should induce me! I am convinced she would make me wretched," continued Edric, hurrying through what he meant to say. "Our tempers don't assimilate. We should both be miserable. I should be very sorry to cause either you or the duke a moment's uneasiness—very sorry—I would die first! ”

“ How blind is human reason when the passions intervene!—all is for the best—have patience; wait a little, and my promises will yet be accomplished."
"If Elvira had died," murmured Father Morris, a dark frown gathering upon his brow.
"You would not be now alive," said the Mummy. "But fear not, all is as you can wish."
"As we can wish?" cried Rosabella indignantly.
"Yes, as you can wish," returned Cheops firmly. "Edmund has obtained permission for Elvira to marry any natural born subject of the realm; but she will not wed him, for she loves another, and that other is a foreigner. ”

“ Rosabella still loves you; but, irritated by the desertion of Edmund, and the news she has just heard—"
"Oh, Marianne!" interrupted the friar in agony, "you may easily reason, for you never had a child; but if Heaven had blessed us with one, you might have felt for my anguish."
"I do feel for you," returned Marianne: "but does she not treat me with equal scorn? Since the absence of Edmund she has become distracted, and I, who know the agonies a woman endures when she finds herself deserted by the man she adores, can feel for her." ”

“ Clara, my dear Clara! open your eyes, my love; are you hurt?"
"Oh, my dear uncle!" sighed Clara, "Edmund is in prison, and he certainly will be beheaded."
"In prison, child! you must be dreaming."
"Indeed I am not, uncle: I heard the men who are placing the adjoining house say so. He has fought with Prince Ferdinand in the palace garden."
"My boy, my darling boy!" cried Sir Ambrose, and rushed out of the room in despair. ”

“ Neither he nor the doctor spoke as they passed through the vestibule, where the colossal figures still sat in awful majesty; indeed, as their torches were extinguished, their gigantic forms looked still more terrific than before, from the wavering and indistinct light thrown upon them. Edric shuddered as he looked, and hurried on with hasty strides to the place where they had left the guide, whom they found kneeling in a corner, hiding his face in his hands, and roaring out, "Lord, defend us! Heaven have mercy upon us! Lord have mercy upon us! Heaven have mercy upon us!" ”

“ At this moment a sharp knock at the door made the terrified servants all spring closer together, clinging to each other in an agony of nervous horror, and not one daring to approach the door. The knocking and ringing, however, at length became so violent, as to rouse even Mr. Montagu to give the clamorous intruders entrance. It was Father Morris and Sir Ambrose.
"Oh, my dear brother!" cried the latter, panting for breath; "have you heard the news? The strangest vision has appeared, and the Queen is certainly dying. Every one says it is a demon."
"What, the Mummy?" asked Mr. Montagu. ”

“ Clara shuddered as she found herself alone in the power of this mysterious being, and saw the river roll deep and dark beneath her feet. Cheops felt her shudder, and cried with one of his horrid laughs, which sounded fearfully amidst the stillness of the night, "What! do even you fear me? Is there no courage in this degenerate race? None? What do you fear? If you dread to trust yourself in my power, or think yourself unequal to the task you have undertaken, retire: there is yet time, and I wish no unwilling agents. ”

“ If I were married to Edmund, I never could love another, even if my nature were susceptible of the passion: a fact I much doubt."
Emma shook her head incredulously, "Oh!" sighed she; "how little do you know of love!"
"I know more of it than you imagine. In my opinion, people would never fall in love, if they had abundance of other thoughts to occupy their minds. They would marry, of course: but that, as every body knows, is quite a different thing."
"Then you disbelieve in love entirely?"
"Not entirely; but I think what is generally called love is the offspring of idleness. ”

“ No one has more right to feel anger at the folly of Elvira than myself; but even I cannot hear such cruelty. What! is a young and beautiful woman, in the very flower of her age, to be doomed to destruction, merely for having shown a susceptible heart? Forbid it, Heaven! And what are we that we should dare to judge so harshly and refuse mercy to a fellow-creature? Are we not all feeble? Do we not all err? And if we show such cruelty in judging such a trifling offence, how shall we expect mercy for our own more weighty ones? ”