'
'I don't believe it,' said the old woman.
'Now you may read the letter,' said Dorothy, standing up. She was quite
prepared to be obedient, but she felt that her aunt's manner of
receiving the information was almost an insult.
'He must be a fool,' said Miss Stanbury.
This was hard to hear, and the colour went and came rapidly across
Dorothy's cheeks as she gave herself a few moments to prepare an
answer. She already perceived that her aunt would be altogether adverse
to the marriage, and that therefore the marriage could never take
place. She had never for a moment allowed herself to think otherwise,
but, nevertheless, the blow was heavy on her. We all know how
constantly hope and expectation will rise high within our own bosoms in
opposition to our own judgment, how we become sanguine in regard to
events which we almost know can never come to pass. So it had been with
Dorothy. Her heart had been almost in a flutter of happiness since she
had had Brooke's letter in her possession, and yet she never ceased to
declare to herself her own conviction that that letter could lead to no
good result.
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