"
Of this advantage Lady Ashton so far and so ingeniously availed herself
that, according to the wording of the letter, the reader would have
supposed Lucy was calling upon her lover to renounce a contract which
was contrary to the interests and inclinations of both. Not trusting
even to this point of deception, Lady Ashton finally determined to
suppress the letter altogether, in hopes that Lucy's impatience would
induce her to condemn Ravenswood unheard and in absence. In this she was
disappointed. The time, indeed, had long elapsed when an answer should
have been received from the continent. The faint ray of hope which still
glimmered in Lucy's mind was well nigh extinguished. But the idea never
forsook her that her letter might not have been duly forwarded. One of
her mother's new machinations unexpectedly furnished her with the means
of ascertaining what she most desired to know.
The female agent of hell having been dismissed from the castle, Lady
Ashton, who wrought by all variety of means, resolved to employ, for
working the same end on Lucy's mind, an agent of a very different
character.
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