On their
arrival they found it easy to impress the servants of the
establishment with a belief of her precarious state, and the nature
of her malady afforded them a plausible pretext for secluding her
from their observation and attendance. Accustomed to receive from
Alice a daily account of her declining condition, the announcement of
her death excited no surprise. In a few weeks after her journey, a
fictitious funeral completed our system of deception.
"The moment when, according to our concerted plan, the death and
interment of Lady Greville were formally announced to me, I repented
of the detestable scheme which had been successfully executed. My
soul revolted from the part of 'excellent dissembling' I had yet to
act; and refused to sloop to a public exhibition of feigned
affliction. I shuddered, too, when I contemplated the shame which
awaited me, should some future event, yet hidden in the lap of time,
reveal to the world the secret villainy of the man who had borne
himself so proudly among his fellows. Yet even these regrets, even
the apprehension of fresh difficulties in the concealment of my
crime, were insufficient to deter me from the prosecution of my
original intention; and blinded by the intemperance of misguided
affection, heedless of the shame and misery into which I was about to
plunge the woman I adored, I sought and obtained your hand.
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