n-sighted as he
was, penetrate into my heart, search my brain, and read my peculiar
sympathies and antipathies; he had not known me long enough, or well
enough, to perceive how low my feelings would ebb under some influences,
powerful over most minds; how high, how fast they would flow under
other influences, that perhaps acted with the more intense force on me,
because they acted on me alone. Neither could he suspect for an instant
the history of my communications with Mdlle. Reuter; secret to him
and to all others was the tale of her strange infatuation; her
blandishments, her wiles had been seen but by me, and to me only were
they known; but they had changed me, for they had proved that I COULD
impress. A sweeter secret nestled deeper in my heart; one full of
tenderness and as full of strength: it took the sting out of Hunsden's
sarcasm; it kept me unbent by shame, and unstirred by wrath. But of all
this I could say nothing--nothing decisive at least; uncertainty sealed
my lips, and during the interval of silence by which alone I replied to
Mr. Hunsden, I made up my mind to be for the present wholly misjudged
by him, and misjudged I was; he thought he had been rather too hard
upon me, and that I was crushed by the weight of his upbraidings; so to
re-assure me he said, doubtless I should mend some day; I was only at
the beginning of life yet; and since happily I was not quite without
sense, every false step I made would be a good lesson.

Just then I turned my face a little to the light; the approach of
twilight, and my position in the window-seat, had, for the last ten
minutes, prevented him from studying my countenance; as I moved,
however, he caught an expression which he thus interpreted:--

"Confound it! How doggedly self-approving the lad looks! I thought he
was fit to die with shame, and there he sits grinning smiles, as good as
to say, 'Let the world wag as it will, I've the philosopher's stone
in my waist-coat pocket, and the elixir of life in my cupboard; I'm
independent of both Fate and Fortune.'"

"Hunsden--you spoke of grapes; I was thinking of a fruit I like better
than your X---- hot-house grapes--an unique fruit, growing wild, which I
have marked as my own, and hope one day to gather and taste. It is of no
use your offering me the draught of bitterness, or threatening me with
death by thirst: I have the anticipation of sweetness on my palate; the
hope of freshness on my lips; I can reject the unsavou