صفحة 398 من 483

Such were the lessons of my father. But to me the remembrance of

the threat returned; nor can you wonder that, omnipotent as the

fiend had yet been in his deeds of blood, I should almost regard

him as invincible, and that when he had pronounced the words "_I

shall be with you on your wedding-night_," I should regard the

threatened fate as unavoidable. But death was no evil to me if

the loss of Elizabeth were balanced with it, and I therefore,

with a contented and even cheerful countenance, agreed with my

father that if my cousin would consent, the ceremony should take

place in ten days, and thus put, as I imagined, the seal to my

fate.