'Is she not by your side?' said Venetia.
'You know not what you ask; you know not what you counsel,' said Lady
Annabel. 'It has been the prayer and effort of my life that you should
never know. There is a bitterness in the reconciliation which follows
long estrangement, that yields a pang more acute even than the first
disunion. Shall I be called upon to mourn over the wasted happiness of
twenty years? Why did he not hate us?'
'The pang is already felt, mother,' said Venetia. 'Reject my father,
but you cannot resume the feelings of a month back. You have seen
him; you have listened to him. He is no longer the character which
justified your conduct, and upheld you under the trial. His image has
entered your soul; your heart is softened. Bid him quit Venice without
seeing you, and you will remain the most miserable of women.'
'On his head, then, be the final desolation,' said Lady Annabel; 'it
is but a part of the lot that he has yielded me.'
'I am silent,' said Venetia, relaxing her grasp. 'I see that your
child is not permitted to enter into your considerations.' She turned
away.
'Venetia!' said her mother.
'Mother!' said Venetia, looking back, but not returning.
'Return one moment to me.'
Venetia slowly rejoined her.
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