Now melted
by her unsophisticated innocence, he cursed even the least unhallowed of
his purposes; and now enchanted by her consummate loveliness, he forgot
all but her beauty and his own passion.
Often had he dilated to her, with the skill of an arch deceiver, on the
blessings of domestic joy; often, in her presence, had his eye sparkled,
when he watched the infantile graces of some playful children. Then he
would embrace them with a soft care and gushing fondness, enough to melt
the heart of any mother whom he was desirous to seduce, and then, with
a half-murmured sigh, he regretted, in broken accents, that he, too, was
not a father.
In due time he proceeded even further. Dark hints of domestic infelicity
broke unintentionally from his ungoverned lips. Miss Dacre stared.
He quelled the tumult of his thoughts, struggled with his outbreaking
feelings, and triumphed; yet not without a tear, which forced its way
down a face not formed for grief, and quivered upon his fair and downy
cheek. Sir Lucius Grafton was well aware of the magic of his beauty, and
used his charms to betray, as if he were a woman.
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