Green Hill
January 20
I am to be married tomorrow. It is Father's wish. He is weaker, but suffers no pain, and he recognizes us all.
Twenty-four hours to my wedding. Please God that Father will never know how I dread it.
Mr. John Denton is to give me away. And we are to be married from this house, with no one but the Goodriches and Mr. Denton present at the ceremony. Ceremony! The mockery of it!
Dr. Denton has given me a ring. It was his Mother's, he said. I have never asked him about his Mother. I do not even know if he has told her.
Nothing seems to matter very much. Father.... Father....
January 21
William—he has asked me to call him that—came to me this morning, and for the first time in days we talked together for more than a moment.
"You are frightened," he said to me, "and nervous. You need not be."