This alone afforded strong presumption that I was already forgotten; yet this was not the worst: it might have been her sense of duty that had kept her silent: she might be only trying to forget; but in addition to this, I had a gloomy conviction that the awful realities she had seen and felt, her reconciliation with the man she had once loved, his dreadful sufferings and death, must eventually efface from her mind all traces of her passing love for me.

She might recover from these horrors so far as to be restored to her former health, her tranquillity, her cheerfulness even--but never to those feelings which would appear to her, henceforth, as a fleeting fancy, a vain, illusive dream; especially as there was no one to remind her of my existence--no means of assuring her of my fervent constancy, now that we were so far apart, and delicacy forbade me to see her or to write to her, for months to come at least.

And how could I engage her brother in my behalf?
how could I break that icy crust of shy reserve?
Perhaps he would disapprove of my attachment now as highly as before; perhaps he would think me too poor--too lowly born, to match with his sister.

Yes, there was another barrier: doubtless there was a wide distinction between the rank and circumstances of Mrs.Huntingdon, the lady of Grassdale Manor, and those of Mrs.Graham, the artist, the tenant of Wildfell Hall.

And it might be deemed presumption in me to offer my hand to the former, by the world, by her friends, if not by herself; a penalty I might brave, if I were certain she loved me; but otherwise, how could I?
And, finally, her deceased husband, with his usual selfishness, might have so constructed his will as to place restrictions upon her marrying again.