“As, unable to witness the agony of the wound he had inflicted but could not heal, he turned from her, the last light of day faded from the hills--the sun of both worlds set on her eye and soul--she sunk on the earth, and notes of faint music that seemed designed to echo the words--“No--no--no--never--never more!” trembled in her ears. They were as simple and monotonous as the words themselves, and were played accidentally by a peasant boy who was wandering in the woods. But to the unfortunate, every thing seems prophetic; and amid the shades of evening, and accompanied by the sound of his departing footsteps, the breaking heart of Elinor accepted the augury of these melancholy notes(10). * * * * * * * * * (10) As this whole scene is taken from fact, I subjoin the notes whose modulation is so simple, and whose effect was so profound. [Music] “A few days after this final meeting, Elinor wrote to her aunt in York to announce, that if she still lived, and was not unwilling to admit her, she would reside with her for life; and she could not help intimating, that _her_ life would probably not outlast that of her hostess. She did not tell what the widow Sandal had whispered to her at her first arrival at the Castle, and what she now ventured to repeat with a tone that struggled between the imperative and the persuasive,--the conciliating and the intimidative. Elinor yielded,--and the indelicacy of this representation, had only the effect to make her shrink from its repetition. “On her departure, Margaret wept, and Sandal shewed as much tender officiousness about her journey, as if it were to terminate in their renewed bridal. To escape from this, Elinor hastened her preparations for departure. “When she arrived at a certain distance from the Castle, she dismissed the family carriage, and said she would go on foot with her female servant to the farmhouse where horses were awaiting her. She went there, but remained concealed, for the report of the approaching bridal resounded in her ears. * * * * * * * “The day arrived--Elinor rose very early--the bells rung out a merry peal--(as she had once heard them do on another occasion)--the troops of friends arrived in greater numbers, and with equal gaiety as they had once assembled to escort her--she saw their equipages gleaming along--she heard the joyous shouts of half the county--she imagined to herself the timid smile of Margaret, and the irradiated countenance of him who had been _her_ bridegroom. “Suddenly there was a pause. She felt that the ceremony was going on--was finished--that the irrevocable words were spoken--the indissoluble tie was knit! Again the shout and wild joyance burst forth as the sumptuous cavalcade returned to the Castle. The glare of the equipages,--the splendid habits of the riders,--the cheerful groupe of shouting tenantry,----she saw it all! * * * * * * * * * *