'My Lord!'
'Yes!' he continued in a rapid and impassioned tone. 'I at length
find an opportunity of giving way to feelings which it has been long
difficult for me to control. O beautiful being! tell me, tell me that I
am blessed!'
'My Lord! I--I am most honoured; pardon me if I say, most surprised.'
'Yes! from the first moment that your ineffable loveliness rose on
my vision my mind has fed upon your image. Our acquaintance has only
realised, of your character, all that my imagination had preconceived,
Such unrivalled beauty, such unspeakable grace, could only have been
the companions of that exquisite taste and that charming delicacy which,
even to witness, has added great felicity to my existence. Oh! tell
me--tell me that they shall be for me something better than a transient
spectacle. Condescend to share the fortune and the fate of one who only
esteems his lot in life because it enables him to offer you a station
not utterly unworthy of your transcendent excellence!'
'I have permitted your Grace to proceed too far. For your--for my own
sake, I should sooner have interfered, but, in truth, I was so astounded
at your unexpected address that I have but just succeeded in recalling
my scattered senses.
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