"No!"
"Did she promise to come back? and when?"
"She promised to return before dark! She did not do so! I judged the storm had detained her, and that she was with you, and I felt easy."
"Oh, God!" cried the lady, in a voice of deep distress,
"Miss Thornton! for Heaven's sake! tell me what has occurred!"
"Oh, Edith!"
"In mercy, explain yourself—Marian! what of Marian?"
"Oh, God, sustain you, Edith! what can I say to you? my own heart is lacerated!"
"Marian! Marian! oh! what has happened to Marian! Oh! where is Marian?"
"I had hoped to find her here after all! else I had not found courage to come!"