The proposal had charms for her:
she had been there with her father when a mere child, and never
since. She wrote to Donal to let him know: how it was that her
letter never reached him, it is hardly needful to inquire.
The earl, in order, he said, to show his recognition of her sweet
compliance, made arrangements for posting it all the way. He would
take her by the road he used to travel himself when he was a young
man: she should judge whether more had not been lost than gained by
rapidity! Whatever shortened any natural process, he said, simply
shortened life itself. Simmons should go before, and find a suitable
place for them!
They were hardly gone when Mrs. Brookes received a letter
pretendedly from the clergyman of the parish, in a remote part of
the south, where her mother, now a very old woman, lived, saying she
was at the point of death, and could not die in peace without seeing
her daughter. She went at once.
The scheme was a madman's, excellently contrived for the instant
object, but with no outlook for immediately resulting perils.
After the first night on the road, he turned across country, and a
little towards home; after the next night, he drove straight back,
but as it was by a different road, Arctura suspected nothing. When
they came within a few hours of the castle, they stopped at a little
inn for tea; there he contrived to give her a certain dose.
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