"Of course, I know he will marry Shirley," were her first words when she rose in the morning. "And he ought to marry her. She can help him," she added firmly. "But I shall be forgotten when they _are_ married," was the cruel succeeding thought. "Oh! I shall be wholly forgotten! And what--_what_ shall I do when Robert is taken quite from me? Where shall I turn? _My_ Robert! I wish I could justly call him mine. But I am poverty and incapacity; Shirley is wealth and power. And she is beauty too, and love. I cannot deny it. This is no sordid suit. She loves him--not with inferior feelings. She loves, or _will_ love, as he must feel proud to be loved. Not a valid objection can be made. Let them be married, then. But afterwards I shall be nothing to him. As for being his sister, and all that stuff, I despise it. I will either be all or nothing to a man like Robert; no feeble shuffling or false cant is endurable. Once let that pair be united, and I will certainly leave them. As for lingering about, playing the hypocrite, and pretending to calm sentiments of friendship, when my soul will be wrung with other feelings, I shall not descend to such degradation. As little could I fill the place of their mutual friend as that of their deadly foe; as little could I stand between them as trample over them. Robert is a first-rate man--in my eyes. I _have_ loved, _do_ love, and _must___ love him. I would be his wife if I could; as I cannot, I must go where I shall never see him. There is but one alternative--to cleave to him as if I were a part of him, or to be sundered from him wide as the two poles of a sphere.--Sunder me then, Providence. Part us speedily."

"Of course, I know he will marry Shirley," were her first words when she rose in the morning. "And he ought to marry her. She can help him."
But the cruel next thought was, "Oh! I shall be wholly forgotten when they are married! And what shall I do when Robert is quite taken from me? Where shall I turn? My Robert! I wish I could call him mine. But I am poverty; Shirley is wealth and power, and beauty too, and love. I cannot deny it. She loves him. Let them be married, then. But afterwards I shall be nothing to him. As for being his sister, and all that stuff, I despise it. I will be all or nothing to a man like Robert. Once that pair is united, I will certainly leave them. As little could I fill the place of their mutual friend as that of their deadly foe. Robert is a first-rate man: I love him. I would be his wife if I could; as I cannot, I must go where I shall never see him. - Sunder me then, Providence. Part us speedily."
