to the last
the shy sweetness and simplicity of childhood."

It would certainly appear that Poe's child-wife never attained to the
full completeness of the nature and affections of a mature woman. She
was never known to manifest jealousy of the women whom he so notoriously
admired; neither did scandals disturb nor his neglect estrange her. Mrs.
Clemm would sometimes, as in duty bound, take him to task for his
irregularities, but no word of reproach ever escaped Virginia. She
regarded him with the most implicit and childlike trust; and certainly
it seems that Poe, of all men, knew how, by endearing epithets and
eloquent protestations, to win a woman's confidence--as will presently
appear.

But, naturally, this was not the kind of affection to satisfy one of
Poe's impassioned and poetic nature. He craved a woman's love, and the
sympathetic appreciation of talented women, in whose companionship, as
Mrs. Whitman assures us, he delighted. What he did not find in Virginia
he sought elsewhere. In special he missed in her that understanding and
appreciation of his genius which he found in some other women. She loved
and admired her handsome and fascinating husband, but never appeared to
take pride in his genius or his fame as a poet.

The accounts of Virginia's beauty, say those who knew her personally,
have been greatly exaggerated by Poe's biographers, who, taking their
impressions from the description of Mr. Gowans already mentioned, have
painted the poet's child-wife in the most glowing colors. The general
idea of her is like that which Mr. Woodbury expresses: "A sylph-like
creature, of such delicate and ethereal beauty that we almost expect to
see it vanish away, like one of Poe's own creations."

But the real Virginia was neither delicate nor ethereal. She is
described by those who knew her at the age of twenty-two as looking more
like a girl of fifteen than a woman grown, with, notwithstanding her
frail health, a round, full face and figure, full, pouting lips, a
forehead too high and broad for beauty, and bright black eyes and
raven-black hair, contrasting almost startlingly with a white and
colorless complexion. Her manner and expression were soft and shy, with
something childlike and appealing. "She was liked by every one," says
Mr. Graham. A decided _lisp_ added to her child-likeness.

CHAPTER XVII.

POE'S PHILADELPHIA HOME.

Poe, disappointed in his hopes of success in New York, left that city
and,