Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 1.djvu/333

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OF WILDFELL HALL.
321

confidential friend into whose ear I might pour forth the overflowings of my heart. It will not sympathize with my distresses, but then, it will not laugh at them, and, if I keep it close, it cannot tell again; so it is perhaps, the best friend I could have for the purpose.

First, let me speak of his arrival—how I sat at my window and watched for nearly two hours, before his carriage entered the park gates—for they all came before him,—and how deeply I was disappointed at every arrival, because it was not his. First came Mr. Wilmot and the ladies. When Milicent had got into her room, I quitted my post a few minutes, to look in upon her and have a little private conversation, for she was now my intimate friend, several long epistles having passed between us since our parting. On returning to my window, I beheld another carriage at the door. Was it his? No; it was Mr. Boarham's plain, dark chariot; and there stood he upon the steps, carefully superintending the dislodging