To an eye so unobserving
as that of Bucklaw, her demeanour had little more of reluctance than
might suit the character of a bashful young lady, who, however, he could
not disguise from himself, was complying with the choice of her friends
rather than exercising any personal predilection in his favour.
When the morning compliment of the bridegroom had been paid, Miss Ashton
was left for some time to herself; her mother remarking, that the deeds
must be signed before the hour of noon, in order that the marriage might
be happy. Lucy suffered herself to be attired for the occasion as the
taste of her attendants suggested, and was of course splendidly arrayed.
Her dress was composed of white satin and Brussels lace, and her
hair arranged with a profusion of jewels, whose lustre made a strange
contrast to the deadly paleness of her complexion, and to the trouble
which dwelt in her unsettled eye.
Her toilette was hardly finished ere Henry appeared, to conduct the
passive bride to the state apartment, where all was prepared for signing
the contract. "Do you know, sister," he said, "I am glad you are to
have Bucklaw after all, instead of Ravenswood, who looked like a Spanish
grandee come to cute our throats and trample our bodies under foot.
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