Elizabeth had suffered keenly from that
bitterest of all oppressions, heart-constraint. She often wished to
weep, but did not dare. The first servant that entered the room was
her master. She owed him a calm expression of face and pleasant words,
and if she failed to give them he rent her secret from her. O be
certain that every sorrowful soul sighs for the night, as the watchman
of Judaea did for the morning. It longs for the shadows that conceal its
tears; it invokes the darkness which gave it back to itself!
With a sense of infinite relief Elizabeth sat in the still house. It
was pleasant to hear only Martha's feet going to and fro; to feel that,
at last, she was at liberty to speak or to be silent, to smile or to
weep, to eat or to let food alone. When Martha brought in her bedroom
candle, and said, "Good-night, Miss Hallam; you needn't hev a care
about t' house, I'll see to ivery thing," Elizabeth knew all was right,
and went with an easy mind to her own room.
Christmas-eve! She had looked forward all the year to it. Richard was
to have been at Hallam for Christmas. She had thought of asking Antony
and his wife and child, of filling the old rooms with young, bright
faces, and of heralding in her new life in the midst of Christmas joys.
She had pleased herself with the hope of telling Antony all her plans
about "the succession.
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