The last from Emily was as follows:--"Let him go into the drawing-room.

E.W." And so Ferdinand went down, to meet his love,--to encounter her for the first time as her recognised future husband and engaged lover.
Passionate, declared, and thorough as was her love for this man, the familiar intercourse between them had hitherto been very limited.
There had been little,--we may perhaps say none,--of that dalliance between them which is so delightful to the man and so wondrous to the girl till custom has staled the edge of it.

He had never sat with his arm round her waist.

He had rarely held even her hand in his for a happy recognised pause of a few seconds.

He had never kissed even her brow.