Sampson,′ he feelingly pursued, ′that it would be strange indeed if the relations between us were cold or indifferent. If I remember a conversation we once had together, you will understand the reference I make. Cheer up, dear Margaret. Don′t droop, don′t droop. My Margaret! I cannot bear to see you droop!′
The poor young lady was very much affected, but controlled herself. His feelings, too, were very acute. In a word, he found himself under such great need of a restorative, that he presently went away, to take a bath of sea-water, leaving the young lady and me sitting by a point of rock, and probably presuming - but that you will say was a pardonable indulgence in a luxury - that she would praise him with all her heart.
She did, poor thing! With all her confiding heart, she praised him to me, for his care of her dead sister, and for his untiring devotion in her last illness. The sister had wasted away very slowly, and wild and terrible fantasies had come over her toward the end, but he had never been impatient with her, or at a loss; had always been gentle, watchful, and self-possessed. The sister had known him, as she had known him, to be the best of men, the kindest of men, and yet a man of such admirable strength of character, as to be a very tower for the support of their weak natures while their poor lives endured.
′I shall leave him, Mr. Sampson, very soon,′ said the young lady; ′I know my life is drawing to an end; and when I am gone, I hope he will marry and be happy. I am sure he has lived single so long, only for my sake, and for my poor, poor sister′s.′
The little hand-carriage had made another great loop on the damp sand, and was coming back again, gradually spinning out a slim figure of eight, half a mile long.
′Young lady,′ said I, looking around, laying my hand upon her arm, and speaking in a low voice, ′time presses. You hear the gentle murmur of that sea?′
She looked at me with the utmost wonder and alarm, saying, ′Yes!′
′And you know what a voice is in it when the storm comes?′
′Yes!′
′You see how quiet and peaceful it lies before us, and you know what an awful sight of power without pity it might be, this very night!′
′Yes!′
′But if you had never heard or seen it, or heard of it in its cruelty, could you believe that it beats every inanimate thing in its way to pieces, without mercy, and destroys life without remorse?′
′You terrify me, sir, by these questions!′
′To save you, young lady, to save you! For God′s sake, collect your strength and collect your firmness! If you were here alone, and hemmed in by the rising tide on the flow to fifty feet above your head, you could not be in greater danger than the danger you are now to be saved from.′
The figure on the sand was spun out, and straggled off into a crooked little jerk that ended at the cliff very near us.
′As I am, before Heaven and the Judge of all mankind, your friend, and your dead sister′s friend, I solemnly entreat you, Miss Niner, without one moment′s loss of time, to come to this gentleman with me!′
If the little carriage had been less near to us, I doubt if I could have got her away; but it was so near that we were there before she had recovered the hurry of being urged from the rock. I did not remain there with her two minutes.
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