There were other circumstances
also to lead him to the same conclusion. He dropped the note where he
had picked it up and pretended not to have seen it; afterwards I in the
same way restored it to Marian. To carry on my fatal jest, I went home
in the carriage with Marian, to Old Field Cottage, which stands near the
coast. I left Marian there and set out to return to Luckenough--laughing
all the time, alas! to think that Dr. Grimshaw had gone to the coast to
intercept what he supposed to be my meeting with Thurston! Oh, God, I
never thought such jests could be so dangerous! Alas! alas! he met
Marian Mayfield in the dark, and between the storm without and the storm
within--the blindness of night and the blindness of rage--he stabbed her
before he found out his mistake, and he rushed home with her innocent
blood on his hands and clothing--rushed home and into my presence, to
reproach me as the cause of his crime, to fill my bosom with undying
remorse, and then to die! He had in the crisis of his passion, ruptured
an artery and fell--so that the blood found upon his hands and clothing
was supposed to be his own. No one knew the secret of his blood
guiltiness but myself. In my illness and delirium that followed I
believe I dropped some words that made my aunt, Mrs.
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