Either with the swingle-
bar, or with the haunch of our near leader, we had struck the off-wheel
of the little gig; which stood rather obliquely, and not quite so far
advanced as to be accurately parallel with the near-wheel. The blow,
from the fury of our passage, resounded terrifically. I rose in horror,
to gaze upon the ruins we might have caused. From my elevated station I
looked down, and looked back upon the scene; which in a moment told its
own tale, and wrote all its records on my heart for ever.
Here was the map of the passion that now had finished. The horse was
planted immovably, with his fore-feet upon the paved crest of the
central road. He of the whole party might be supposed untouched by the
passion of death. The little cany carriage--partly, perhaps, from the
violent torsion of the wheels in its recent movement, partly from the
thundering blow we had given to it--as if it sympathised with human
horror, was all alive with tremblings and shiverings. The young man
trembled not, nor shivered. He sat like a rock. But _his_ was the
steadiness of agitation frozen into rest by horror. As yet he dared not
to look round; for he knew that, if anything remained to do, by him it
could no longer be done. And as yet he knew not for certain if their
safety were accomplished. But the lady--
But the lady--! Oh, heavens! will that spectacle ever depart from my
dreams, as she rose and sank upon her seat, sank and rose, threw up her
arms wildly to heaven, clutched at some visionary object in the air,
fainting, praying, raving, despairing? Figure to yourself, reader, the
elements of the case; suffer me to recall before your mind the
circumstances of that unparalleled situation.
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