Everybody appeared deserting
him.
He had neglected her, to be sure; and they must have parted, it was
certain. Yet, although the present event saved him from the most
harrowing of scenes, he could not refrain shedding a tear. So good! and
so beautiful! and was this her end? He who knew all knew how bitter had
been the lot of her life.
It is certain that when one of your very virtuous women ventures to be
a little indiscreet, we say it is certain, though we regret it, that
sooner or later there is an explosion. And the reason is this, that they
are always in a hurry to make up for lost time, and so love with them
becomes a business instead of being a pleasure. Nature had intended Lady
Aphrodite Grafton for a Psyche, so spiritual was her soul, so pure her
blood! Art--that is, education, which at least should be an art, though
it is not--art had exquisitely sculptured the precious gem that Nature
had developed, and all that was wanting was love to stamp an impression.
Lady Aphrodite Grafton might have been as perfect a character as was
ever the heroine of a novel. And to whose account shall we place her
blighted fame and sullied lustre? To that animal who seems formed
only to betray woman.
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