to you,' I exclaimed. But Bridget tightened her hold upon my arm. 'Not
so,' said she, in a low, hoarse voice. 'It would kill me to see her
again as I saw her this morning. And I must live till I have worked my
work. Leave me!' said she, suddenly, and again taking up the cross. 'I
defy the demon I have called up. Leave me to wrestle with it!' She stood
up, as if in an ecstasy of inspiration, from which all fear was
banished. I lingered--why, I can hardly tell--until once more she bade
me begone. As I went along the forest way, I looked back, and saw her
planting the cross in the empty threshold, where the door had been. The
next morning Lucy and I went to seek her, to bid her join her prayers
with ours. The cottage stood open and wide to our gaze. No human being
was there: the cross remained on the threshold, but Bridget was gone.
Chapter 3 What was to be done next? was the question that I asked
myself. As for Lucy, she would fain have submitted to the doom that lay
upon her. Her gentleness and piety, under the pressure of so horrible a
life, seemed over-passive to me. She never complained. Mrs. Clarke
complained more than ever. As for me, I was more in love with the real
Lucy than ever; but I shrunk from the false similitude with an intensity
proportioned to my love. I found out by instinct that Mrs. Clarke had
occasional temptations to leave Lucy. The good lady's nerves were
shaken, and, from what she said, I could almost have concluded that the
object of the Double was to drive away from Lucy this last and almost
earliest friend. At times, I could scarcely bear to own
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