Read "A Crown of Shame, Volume I" by Florence Marryat online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
As she re-entered the sitting-room, she passed at once to the entrance which led on to the verandah. All the windows were wide open, and the shaded lamp upon the table, round which myriads of insects were hovering, conveyed no heat to the apartment, yet it seemed to stifle her for want of air. Her head and her heart seemed both on fire, and she could recall nothing of the events of the evening, except that Henri had denied he was untrue to her, and yet had left without giving her any proof of his fidelity. The world seemed to be crumbling beneath her feet as she stepped out of the open door, and lifted up her face to the star-spangled sky. How calm and peaceful and steadfast it appeared! What a contrast to her own turbulent spirit, and how she longed to be at peace also -- anywhere, anyhow, only _at peace_!
Liz was passing through the cruellest phase of a disappointment in love -- when merciless doubt obtrudes its fang into the heart, and poisons the whole being. How we despise and hate ourselves for doubting, and yet how painfully we go into the minutie of our loathsome suspicion, and dissect every reason that forbids our casting it from us!