ABSTRACT
In the mean while, during the journey of Thomas to Brighthelmstone, and for some time after his return, I remained in a state of the most cruel trepidation. No further intelligence reached me. The period of Margaret’s visit to her parents terminated; and she returned home. I was agonised during the latter part of her stay with the doubt whether William might not discover the place of her father’s present abode, and so by possibility encounter my wife without her having received even the smallest previous notice that he was alive. But what could I do? In two days from the receipt of the letter of fatal tidings / would come the time when it was originally proposed she should return home. Two days – nay, a single hour, – might be pregnant with irremediable mischief.
