"My
glory is departed!" said she. "Oh, Hortense, I am punished for the
pride I took in them! Yet it was not for myself, but for the sake
of him, I took pride in them! Bestow them, I pray you, upon some
more happy girl, who is poor in fortune, but rich in love, who will
wear them at her bridal, instead of the unhappy Amelie."
The group of girls beheld her, while their eyes were swimming with
tears. "I have long, long kept a bridal veil in my closet," she
went on, "and knew not it was to be mine!" Opening a wardrobe, she
took out a long black veil. It had belonged to her grandaunt, the
nun, Madelaine de Repentigny, and was kept as an heirloom in her
family.
"This," said she, "shall be mine till death! Embrace me, O my
sisters, my bridesmaids and companions. I go now to the Ursulines
to kneel at the door and crave admittance to pass a life of
penitence for Le Gardeur, and of prayer for my beloved Pierre."
"O Amelie, think what you do!" exclaimed Hortense Beauharnais; "be
not hasty, take not a step that cannot be recalled.
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