Mrs.Hare took her customary sup of brandy and water, a small tumbler three parts full.

Without it she believed she could never get to sleep; it deadened unhappy thought, she said.
Barbara, after making it, had turned again to the window, but she did not resume her seat.

She stood right in front of it, her forehead bent forward against its middle pane.

The lamp, casting a bright light, was behind her, so that her figure might be distinctly observable from the lawn, had any one been there to look upon it.
She stood there in the midst of dreamland, giving way to all its enchanting and most delusive fascinations.

She saw herself, in anticipation, the wife of Mr.Carlyle, the envied, thrice envied, of all West Lynne; for, like as he was the dearest on earth to her heart, so was he the greatest match in the neighborhood around.