Then, unable to contain
himself any longer, he rushed out of the room, out of the house, and across
the park.'
'You say that he passed away quietly; he did not seem to suffer at all?'
'No, he never recovered consciousness.'
'But do you think that my refusal to marry him had anything to do with his
death?'
'Oh no, Emily; a fit of apoplexy, with a man of his age, generally ends
fatally.'
'Even if I had known it all beforehand I don't think I could have acted
differently. I could not have married him. Indeed I couldn't, Julia, not
even if I knew I should save his life by doing so. I daresay it is very
wicked of me, but----'
'Dearest Emily, you must not give way to such thoughts; you did quite right
in refusing to marry Mr. Burnett. It was very wrong of him even to think of
asking you, and if he had lived he would have seen how wrong it was of him
to desire such a thing.'
'If he had lived! But then he didn't live, not even long enough to forgive
me, and when we think of how much he suffered--I don't mean in dying, you
say he passed away quietly, but all this last month how heart-broken he
looked! You remember when he sat at the head of the table, never speaking
to us, and how frightened I was lest I should meet him on the stairs; I
used to stand at the door of my room, afraid to move.
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