Hester tried to argue with her,--spoke of her own love,--appealed to her mother, asking whether, as she had now declared her love, it could be right that she should abandon a man who was so good and so fondly attached to her.

Then Mrs.Bolton would hide her face, and sob, and put up renewed prayers to heaven that her daughter might not by means of this unhappy marriage become lost to all sense of grace.
It was very miserable, but still the prospect of the marriage was never abandoned nor postponed.

A day had been settled a little before Christmas, and the Robert Boltons would allow of no postponement.

The old man was so tormented by the misery of his own home that he himself was averse to delay.

There could be no comfort for him till the thing should have been done.