She wept, she sobbed; his entreaties alone seemed to prevent
hysterics.
These scenes are painful at all times, and even the callous, they say,
have a twinge; but when the actress is really beautiful and pure, as
this lady was, and the actor young and inexperienced and amiable, as
this actor was, the consequences are more serious than is usual. The
Duke of St. James was unhappy, he was discontented, he was dissatisfied
with himself. He did not love this lady, if love were the passion which
he entertained for Miss Dacre, but she loved him. He knew that she was
beautiful, and he was convinced that she was excellent. The world
is malicious, but the world had agreed that Lady Aphrodite was an
unblemished pearl: yet this jewel was reserved for him! Intense
gratitude almost amounted to love. In short, he had no idea at this
moment that feelings are not in our power. His were captive, even if
entrapped. It was a great responsibility to desert this creature, the
only one from whom he had experienced devotion. To conclude: a season
of extraordinary dissipation, to use no harsher phrase, had somewhat
exhausted the nervous powers of our hero; his energies were deserting
him; he had not heart or heartlessness enough to extricate himself from
this dilemma.
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