where his mother now resided; had found the letters; and had
secretly conveyed them to Captain Walladmor. From these he had learned
how much injustice he had done to Miss Walladmor in supposing her
capable of withdrawing from him, under any cloud of calamity, an
affection such as she had granted to him; and he was assured that one
heart at least, and _that_ the heart to which his own was linked by
indissoluble bonds, would mourn for his fate. He had learned also from
Tom Godber the secret of the filial relation in which he himself stood
to Sir Morgan. Even this contributed to tranquillize him, by taking
away all color of presumption from his own addresses to Miss Walladmor,
and all color of degradation from her with which hereafter the
censorious might else have reproached her. He felt also a secret joy,
such as a lover's heart is apt to feel, in the circumstance of being
Miss Walladmor's cousin--even in bearing the same name with her--as he
would have done in any slighter bond that connected him (though it were
but by a fanciful tie) with the woman whom he loved. And the chief
bitterness of death to him was this--that, loving her so passionately,
he should see her face no more.

That pang at least shall be spared to him. Edward Walladmor shall see
Miss Walladmor again! once again shall kiss the tears from her face;
and though they meet in sorrow, yet shall this meeting record the
tenderness of her affection in terms much stronger and more solemn than
happier hours could have furnished, and shall put the seal to the long
fidelity of her heart. Now is Edward Walladmor to learn by a proof,
sweet yet miserable to remember, that there is no such potent shield
under calamity as a woman's love; and that, under circumstances of
extremity which transcend all cases that human laws can be supposed to
contemplate, nature will prompt a conduct which as far transcends the
necessity of human sanction. Miss Walladmor had learned through Grace
the discovery which Mrs. Godber had made of the prisoner's relation to
Sir Morgan Walladmor. That gentleman was incapable of acting: and,
apart from her own love to Edward Walladmor, she knew under these
circumstances, how it became her to act as the person on whom the
interests and power of the unhappy parent had devolved. She had taken
her resolution at once: all preparations had long been made: all was
ready: nothing remained but the last agitating step: and the heart,
that hung upon the issue