It would have been better than this silence.' 'To what end should I have done so?
You could not have enlightened me further, on the subject which alone concerned me; nor could you have made me discredit the evidence of my senses.

I desired our intimacy to be discontinued at once, as you yourself had acknowledged would probably be the case if I knew all; but I did not wish to upbraid you,--though (as you also acknowledged) you had deeply wronged me.

Yes, you have done me an injury you can never repair--or any other either--you have blighted the freshness and promise of youth, and made my life a wilderness! I might live a hundred years, but I could never recover from the effects of this withering blow--and never forget it! Hereafter--You smile, Mrs.
Graham,' said I, suddenly stopping short, checked in my passionate declamation by unutterable feelings to behold her actually smiling at the picture of the ruin she had wrought.
'Did I ?' replied she, looking seriously up; 'I was not aware of it.

If I did, it was not for pleasure at the thoughts of the harm I had done you.
Heaven knows I have had torment enough at the bare possibility of that; it was for joy to find that you had some depth of soul and feeling after all, and to hope that I had not been utterly mistaken in your worth.

But smiles and tears are so alike with me, they are neither of them confined to any particular feelings: I often cry when I am happy, and smile when I am sad.' She looked at me again, and seemed to expect a reply; but I continued silent.
'Would you be very glad,' resumed she, 'to find that you were mistaken in your conclusions ?' 'How can you ask it, Helen ?' 'I don't say I can clear myself altogether,' said she, speaking low and fast, while her heart beat visibly and her bosom heaved with excitement,--'but would you be glad to discover I was better than you think me ?' 'Anything that could in the least degree tend to restore my former opinion of you, to excuse the regard I still feel for you, and alleviate the pangs of unutterable regret that accompany it, would be only too gladly, too eagerly received!' Her cheeks burned, and her whole frame trembled, now, with excess of agitation.