Gaiety pours forth its flood, and all
are thinking of themselves, or of some one sweeter even than
self-consciousness, or else perhaps one absent might be missed.
Leaning on the arm of Sir Lucius Grafton, and shrouded in her cashmere,
Mrs. Dallington Vere paces the terrace in earnest conversation.
'If I fail in this,' said Sir Lucius, 'I shall be desperate. Fortune
seems to have sent him for the very purpose. Think only of the state of
affairs for a moment. After a thousand plots on my part; after having
for the last two years never ceased my exertions to make her commit
herself; when neither a love of pleasure, nor a love of revenge, nor the
thoughtlessness to which women in her situation generally have recourse,
produced the slightest effect; this stripling starts upon the stage, and
in a moment the iceberg melts. Oh! I never shall forget the rapture of
the moment when the faithful Lachen announced the miracle!'
'But why not let the adventure take the usual course? You have your
evidence, or you can get it. Finish the business. The _exposes_, to be
sure, are disagreeable enough; but to be the talk of the town for a week
is no great suffering.
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