Страница 486 из 817

]

Had she known that her sister sought to tear her from such

prospects and such realities as these, what would have been her

sensations? They could have been understood only by her mother,

who might have felt nearly the same. Lydia's going to Brighton

was all that consoled her for the melancholy conviction of her

husband's never intending to go there himself.

But they were entirely ignorant of what had passed; and their

raptures continued, with little intermission, to the very day of

Lydia's leaving home.