A woman's love is essentially lonely and spiritual in its nature-feeding on fancy, rather than hope—or like that fairy flower of the East, which floats in, and lives upon, the air. Her attachment is the heathenism of the heart: she has herself created the glory and beauty with which the idol of her altar stands invested. Had Emily known Cecil Spenser before she knew Edward Lorraine, in all probability she would have fallen in love with him. However, our affections are the last things we can give away; for this best reason-they are gone before we are aware. First impressions are very ineffaceable things. CHAPTER XX. “Sa femme ne manquera pas d'adresse pour le faire revenir de sa première résolution, et l'obliger à faire sa volonté avant qu'il s'en doute. Un tel triomphe est le chefd'œuvre d'une femme." Les Sympathies; ou, l'Art de juger par les Traits du Visage des Convenances en Amour et en Amitié. THE room was panelled with Italian landscape - the vineyard hung its trellised wreath as it does in pictures and plays a river, Like a fairy thing, Which the eye watches in its wandering, wound through one department; a temple, whose graceful arch, and one or two columns yet entire, told how beautiful the shrine must have been ere its pillars were broken and its divinity departed, occupied a second; while a fair city, its spires sunny in the distance, gave variety to another; a scroll of oak leaves, in gold, marked the divisions—and another oaken wreath fastened back the blue satin folds of the windows, which opened upon a conservatory filled with the rarest exotics and a small marble fountain in the midst showered its musical and diamond rain over the rich cactuses around those gems of the world of flowers, as if their native soil had dyed their leaves with the glorious colours which wait impatiently for daylight in its mines: one, more than all, seemed the very flower of a fairy tale -a huge green snake, with a head of flame-a serpent king, with its crown of rubies-its red hues coloured like fire the water below. Around the room was scattered all that makes luxury forgotten in taste: the little French clock, where a golden Cupid sat swinging, and the lapse of time is only told by music-the beautiful Annuals, those Assyrians of literature, - gleaming in purple and gold," and opened at some lovely scene or lovelier face the cutcrystal glass, with one rose bending over the side the alabaster vases carved as in snow glittering toys, and china coloured with the rainbow, and diminutive enough to be Oberon's offering to his fairy queen a fan, whose soft pink feathers cast their own delicate shade on the face reflected in the miniature mirror set in their centre-a large cashmere shawl, with its border of roses, thrown carelessly on a chaira crimson cushion, where lay sleeping a Blenheim dog, almost small enough to have passed through the royal ring in that most fairy tale of the White Cat:-all bespoke a lady's room. Looking the very being for the atmosphere. of palaces, sat its beautiful mistress by the small breakfast-table, and with a smile that did not always of a morning grace her exquisite face and yet she was only tête-à-tête with her husband-which smile, however, would have been easily understood by any one who had heard the conversation between Lady Lauriston and her daughter the night before. It ended with," as if Algernon could refuse me any thing. His brother's influence greater than mine! You shall see, mamma. He wants so much to go back to that stupid old Castle, that one word of our leaving town, and I may make my own conditions." "Be cautious, my dear love! Men do not like to be interfered with, even by a wife, in politics!" "Politics! as if it were to me other than matter of affection. It is all for the sake of our dear Alfred." "Ah, Adelaide, what talents you have!" Our principal actions are the result of our smallest motives. Now Lady Etheringhame had divers minute influences of dislike towards Lorraine. First, he had not been sufficiently miserable at her marriage with another; secondly, he had not courted her since; and third, last, and worst, she saw that Edward thoroughly appreciated the motives and manœuvres of her marriage; in short, no food could possibly be extracted from him for her insatiable vanity. The death of Mr. Eskville had left the seat of the borough of A. at Lord Etheringhame's disposal; and it had been long understood that the said seat was, immediately on its becoming vacant, to be filled by Lorraine; but Lady Lauriston thought it a pity her son should miss such an opportunity of getting into Parliament. The plan was suggested to Adelaide, and, as we have seen, met with her ready concurrence; with her first cup of coffee, therefore, she commenced operations. "I must shew you, Algernon, a new purchase of mine"-so saying she drew towards them a small table, in the middle of which was set a china plate, or rather picture" I bought it |