Damnable delusion! To-morrow I will get up
and hunt.'
He called Luigi, and a shower-bath assisted him in taking a more healthy
view of affairs. Yet his faithful fancy recurred to her again. He must
indulge it a little. He left off dressing and flung himself in a chair.
'And yet,' he continued, 'when I think of it again, there surely can
be no reason that this should not turn into a romance of real life. I
perceived that she was a little piqued when we first met at Don-caster.
Very natural! Very flattering! I should have been piqued. Certainly,
I behaved decidedly ill. But how, in the name of Heaven, was I to know
that she was the brightest little being that ever breathed! Well, I am
here now! She has got her wish. And I think an evident alteration has
already taken place. But she must not melt too quickly. She will not;
she will do nothing but what is exquisitely proper. How I do love this
child! I dote upon her very image. It is the very thing that I have
always been wanting. The women call me inconstant. I have never been
constant. But they will not listen to us without we feign feelings, and
then they upbraid us for not being influenced by them.
Pages:
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171