8[阅读题]
 

“He neither spoke, nor loosed his hold some five minutes, during which period he bestowed more kisses than ever he gave in his life before, I dare say; but then my mistress had kissed him first, and I plainly saw that he could hardly bear, for downright agony, to look into her face! The same conviction had stricken him as me, from the instant he beheld her, that there was no prospect of ultimate recovery there—she was fated, sure to die.”

 A. Identify the author and the work.

   B. What does the rocking-chair symbolize?