"An escape you may well call it," replied her friend. "Oh, Henrietta! you do not know what a dreadful thing it is to see yourself on the point of being married to a man you both dislike and despise."
"But why did you consent to marry him?" asked Lady Marchmont, a little conscience-stricken.
"Because I was utterly dispirited and ill: I had not strength to say 'No' to my grandmother, whom I had always been in the habit of obeying."
"They would not have found me so obedient," cried the countess.
"I was rather passive than obedient," replied Ethel; "but the interruption of the ceremony awakened me like a shock. The relief was what I cannot describe: I seemed to awake as if from a lethargy. Thought, resolution, and a belief in my own powers of resistance, appeared to revive suddenly within me. I have seen more, and reflected more, during the last month, than I ever did before in the whole course of my existence."
