To herself! To her weak will and her cowardly spirit! How long would they hold out?
Rosa went in search of her; and, as Violante sprang towards her exclaiming,—
“Oh, Rosa, you will help me!” she held her back.
“No, Violante, I cannot help and I will not hinder you. Father is determined, and you must do it, if do it you will, all yourself. If I move a finger, you will be sent away from me; but I will not try to persuade you either way.”
Violante stood still, with despair in her face. How could she resist her father for an hour? She crept away to bed, at Rosa’s suggestion; received her kisses with passive absence of offence; and, as she hid her face on her pillow, thought not of self-support but of the only help left to her. “He will come again to-morrow—they will listen to him.”
Part 2, Chapter XIV.
Left to Herself.
“As we have met, we shall not meet again
For ever, child, for ever!”