ABSTRACT
And now the glowing picture of guilt is at an end;a the sword of justice hangs over the head of a devoted criminal; and the tortures of remorse are alone leftme to describe. But no: remorse came not yet:b absence but drew Calantha nearer to the object of her attachment. They never love so well,c who have never been estranged. Who is there that in absence clings not with increasing fondness to the object of its idolatry, watches not every post, and trembling with alarm, anxietyd and suspense, reads not again and again every line that the hand of love has traced? Is there a fault that is not pardoned in absence? Is there a doubt that is not harboured and believed, however agonizing? Yet, though believed, is / it not at once forgiven? Every feeling but one is extinct in absence; every idea but one image is banished as profane. Lady Avondale had sacrificed herself and Glenarvon, as she then thought, for others:e but she could not bring herself to endure the pang she had voluntarily inflicted.
