She looked at herself in the little glass which hung against the
wall, and sadly shaking her head thought how easy were the duties of
that Eden of innocence from which she was shut out; how she would
work, and toil, and starve, and die, if necessary, for a husband, a
home--for children--but that thought she could not bear; a little
form rose up, stern in its innocence, from the witches' caldron of
her imagination, and she rushed into action again.
You know now how she came to stand by the threshold of Mary's door,
waiting, trembling, until the latch was lifted, and her niece, with
words that spoke of such desolation among the living, fell into her
arms.
She had felt as if some holy spell would prevent her (even as the
unholy Lady Geraldine was prevented, in the abode of Christabel)
from crossing the threshold of that home of her early innocence; and
she had meant to wait for an invitation. But Mary's helpless action
did away with all reluctant feeling, and she bore or dragged her to
her seat, and looked on her bewildered eyes, as, puzzled with the
likeness, which was not identity, she gazed on her aunt's features.
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