n
at her daughter's abrupt confession, now listened with equally
imperturbable composure to Walter's rather hurried and confused attempts
at excusing what was, in the strict sense, inexcusable; and to his frank
and manly professions of attachment to her daughter, and of his desire,
if he might be received as a son by that daughter's mother, to prove, by
every act of his future life, his sense of such generous forgiveness.
Having heard him to the end, with the most exemplary patience and
faultless good-breeding, Madame du Resnel begged to assure Monsieur
Barnard, that, "so far from assuming to herself any right of censure
over him or his actions, past, present, or to come, she begged leave to
assure him she was incapable of such impertinent interference; and that,
with regard to the lady who had ceased to be her daughter on becoming
the wife of Monsieur Barnard, she resigned from that moment all claims
on the duty she had violated, and all control over her future actions.
Les effets appartenant a Mademoiselle Madelaine du Resnel--[poor little
Madelaine, few and little worth were thy worldly goods!]--should be
ready for delivery to any authorised claimant." "Au reste"--Madame du
Resnel had the honour to felicitate Monsieur and Madame Barnard on their
auspicious union, and to wish them a very good morning--an adieu sans
au revoir--with which tender conclusion she dropped a profound and
dignified curtsy, and with her attendant daughters (who dutifully
followed the maternal example) passed through the gate of the Manoir,
and closed it after her, with no violence, but a deliberate firmness,
that spoke to those without more convincingly than words could have
expressed it--"Henceforward, and for ever, this barrier is closed
against you."

That moment was one of bitterness to the new-made wife--to the discarded
daughter; and, for a time, all the feelings that had led to her
violation of filial duty--all the excuses she had framed to herself
for breaking its sacred obligations--all the "shortcomings" of love she
had been subjected to in her own home--and all--ay, even all the love,
passing speech, which had bound up her life with Walter Barnard's--all
was forgotten--merged in one absorbing agony of distress, at the sudden
and violent wrench-asunder of Nature's first and holiest ties. She clung
to the side-post of the old gate that opened to her paternal domain--to
the house of her fathers. She kissed the bars that excluded her fo