With a trembling ecstasy, which in vain she tried to reason down, she
began to prepare herself for the presence of one fresh from the face of
God and the awful precincts of eternity.
As for Paul, there was no conflict of feeling with prejudice in his case;
he gave himself wholly up to a delirious expectation. How would his
immortal mistress look? How would she move? What would be her
stature--what her bearing? How would she gaze upon him? If not with love
he should die at her feet. If with love how should he bear it?
Mrs. Rhinehart's letter had been received in the morning, and during the
rest of the day Miss Ludington and Paul seemed quite to forget each other
in their absorption in the thoughts suggested by the approaching event.
They sat abstracted and silent at table, and, on rising, went each their
own way. In the exalted state of their imaginations the enterprise they
had in hand would not bear talking over.
When she retired to bed Miss Ludington found that sleep was out of the
question. About two o'clock in the morning she heard Paul leave his room
and go downstairs.
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