"Do not deceive Perkins--do not let the assurances of my mother
deceive you. She does not know me. I can not and will not marry
you. I will sooner marry the grave--the winding-sheet--the worm!"
Her strength failed her the moment he left the apartment. She
sank in a fainting-fit upon the floor, and was thus saved from
hearing the bitter abuse which her miserable and misguided parent
continued to lavish upon her, even while undertaking the task of
her restoration. The evident exhaustion of her frame, her increasing
feebleness, the agony of her mind, and the possibly fatal termination
of her indisposition, did not in the least serve to modify the
violent and vexing mood of this most unnatural woman!