r considerateness for her delicate nature."

"She is so lovely, one cannot but be loving towards her. You--every
woman older than herself, must feel for such a simple, innocent,
girlish fairy a sort of motherly or elder-sisterly fondness. Graceful
angel! Does not your heart yearn towards her when she pours into your
ear her pure, childlike confidences? How you are privileged!" And he
sighed.

"I cut short these confidences somewhat abruptly now and then," said I.
"But excuse me, Dr. John, may I change the theme for one instant? What
a god-like person is that de Hamal! What a nose on his face--perfect!
Model one in putty or clay, you could not make a better or straighter,
or neater; and then, such classic lips and chin--and his
bearing--sublime."

"De Hamal is an unutterable puppy, besides being a very white-livered
hero."

"You, Dr. John, and every man of a less-refined mould than he, must
feel for him a sort of admiring affection, such as Mars and the coarser
deities may be supposed to have borne the young, graceful Apollo."

"An unprincipled, gambling little jackanapes!" said Dr. John curtly,
"whom, with one hand, I could lift up by the waistband any day, and lay
low in the kennel if I liked."

"The sweet seraph!" said I. "What a cruel idea! Are you not a little
severe, Dr. John?"

And now I paused. For the second time that night I was going beyond
myself--venturing out of what I looked on as my natural
habits--speaking in an unpremeditated, impulsive strain, which startled
me strangely when I halted to reflect. On rising that morning, had I
anticipated that before night I should have acted the part of a gay
lover in a vaudeville; and an hour after, frankly discussed with Dr.
John the question of his hapless suit, and rallied him on his
illusions? I had no more presaged such feats than I had looked forward
to an ascent in a balloon, or a voyage to Cape Horn.

The Doctor and I, having paced down the walk, were now returning; the
reflex from the window again lit his face: he smiled, but his eye was
melancholy. How I wished that he could feel heart's-ease! How I grieved
that he brooded over pain, and pain from such a cause! He, with his
great advantages, _he_ to love in vain! I did not then know that the
pensiveness of reverse is the best phase for some minds; nor did I
reflect that some herbs, "though scentless when entire, yield fragrance
when they're bruised."

"Do not be sorrowful, do not grieve," I broke