Last night Susan slept with her, and in her sleep heard her murmur
Joshua's name. It proves that he is in her thoughts; but it proves
nothing more. I hear a step upon the stairs. Goodnight, dumb witness
of my grief!
How shall I commence? All my pulses are throbbing with rage and
apprehension. Proof has come. Joshua Marvel is a damned false-hearted
villain!
I write with pain and difficulty. My heart is beating so violently,
that I am obliged to stop to calm myself, for fear of consequences.
Calm myself! Can I do it? I must. I will lay down my pen, and wait
until I have subdued the tumult of passion which rages within me.
So! I am calmer. It is well that I stopped, or what the doctor warned
me of might have occurred. And I want to live--Oh, how I want to live!
Susan is sitting in the room with me; for I am afraid a being alone,
to-night of all nights. I am glad that I have kept this record; I am
glad that, if I die suddenly, the guilt of an infamous recreant will
be brought to light by means of this evidence.
About noon to-day--I am writing this at night--Minnie brought a doctor
to my bedside. I had steadily refused to see one before; for I knew
what I was suffering from, and I knew that the doctor's art was
powerless to cure me. But I was not displeased that Minnie brought
him; it was her anxiety and love--for she does love me--that caused
her to disobey my wishes. I sent Minnie out of the room, so that I
might speak to the doctor in private. He told me nothing new; as well
as suffering from rheumatism and low fever, I have heart-disease. He
told me what I already knew--that I might die suddenly, without any
other forewarnings than those I have already received. He went away
after uttering the usual platitudes. Late in the afternoon I fell
asleep; and when it was dark, I heard a step in the room; asking who
was there, Joshua's voice answered me. I spoke to him bitterly out of
the bitterness of my heart, and he answered me quietly and feelingly.
He said he had noticed with sorrow that I was changed; that he was not
conscious of having done any wrong. He begged that I would be to him
as I was before he first went to sea, and when I had blessed him. I
could not see his face; but his voice was tremulous with emotion; and
when he appealed to my sense of justice, I softened to him, for I had
no evidence against him but the suspicion which had been created by
the warning letters I had received. I had it first in my mind to tell
him all; but my pride and my consideration for Minnie's feelings
restrained me. Instead of doing that, I resolved to probe him; and,
that my agitation might not betray me, I refused to have a light. We
spoke in the dark. I elicited from him that he was engaged to Ellen,
whom he declared he loved before all the world. Upon that, his hand in
mine, I wished him the happiness that faithful love deserves. When,
after that, Minnie became the subject of conversation, there was a
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