' - This young couple came gradually to the discovery (made on both
sides pretty equally, I think), that they would be happier and
better, both in their present and their future lives, as
affectionate friends, or say rather as brother and sister, than as
husband and wife.'
Mr. Grewgious saw a lead-coloured face in the easy-chair, and on
its surface dreadful starting drops or bubbles, as if of steel.
'This young couple formed at length the healthy resolution of
interchanging their discoveries, openly, sensibly, and tenderly.
They met for that purpose. After some innocent and generous talk,
they agreed to dissolve their existing, and their intended,
relations, for ever and ever.'
Mr. Grewgious saw a ghastly figure rise, open-mouthed, from the
easy-chair, and lift its outspread hands towards its head.
'One of this young couple, and that one your nephew, fearful,
however, that in the tenderness of your affection for him you would
be bitterly disappointed by so wide a departure from his projected
life, forbore to tell you the secret, for a few days, and left it
to be disclosed by me, when I should come down to speak to you, and
he would be gone. I speak to you, and he is gone.'
Mr. Grewgious saw the ghastly figure throw back its head, clutch
its hair with its hands, and turn with a writhing action from him.
'I have now said all I have to say: except that this young couple
parted, firmly, though not without tears and sorrow, on the evening
when you last saw them together.
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