So the sad days wore on, and the fell-side air had not yet brisked up
Emmanuel's adopted daughter as his sister prophesied. Indeed, she seemed
slighter and paler than ever, and if possible more submissive to her lot
and more taciturn. And as her intense quietude of bearing suited Miss
Gryce, who could not bear to be fussed, and time proved her douce and
not fashious, she became quite a favorite with her rough-grained
hostess, who wondered more and more where Emmanuel had picked her up,
and whose bairn she really was.
Her only pleasure was in wandering over the fells, whence she could see
the tops of the Derwentwater mountains, and from some points a glimpse
of blue Bassanthwaite flowing out into the open; where mountain-tarns,
lying like silver plates in the purple distance, were her magic shows,
seen only in certain lights, and more often lost than found; whence she
could look over the broad Carlisle plain and dream of that day on the
North Aston moor when she first met Edgar Harrowby; and whence the
glittering strip of the Solway against the horizon made her yearn to be
in one of the ships which she could dimly discern passing up and down,
so that she might leave England for ever and lay down the burden of her
life and her sorrow in mamma's dear land.
So the hours passed, dreary as Mariana's, and hopeless as those wherein
we stand round the grave and know that the end of all things has come.
And while North Aston wondered, and Alick mourned, and Edgar repented of
his past folly with his handsome head in Adelaide's lap, Leam Dundas
moved slowly through the shadow to the light, and from her chastisement
gathered that sweet grace of patience which redeemed her soul and raised
her from sin to sanctity.
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