between his new love and his old
affections. Whenever the first seemed likely to gain the ascendency,
the latter rose in their turn, like Antaeus from earth, with renovated
strength. And he kept up their force by always revisiting the Tower,
when the contest seemed doubtful.

Thus, Lord Curryfin and Mr. Falconer were rivals, with a new phase of
rivalry. In some of their variations of feeling, each wished the other
success; the latter, because he struggled against a spell that grew
more and more difficult to be resisted; the former, because he had been
suddenly overpowered by the same kind of light that had shone from the
statue of Pygmalion. Thus their rivalry, such as it was, was entirely
without animosity, and in no way disturbed the harmony of the
Aristophanic party.

The only person concerned in these complications whose thoughts and
feelings were undivided, was Miss Niphet. She had begun by laughing at
Lord Curryfin, and had ended by forming a decided partiality lor him.
She contended against the feeling; she was aware of his intentions
towards Miss Gryll; and she would perhaps have achieved a conquest over
herself, if her sympathies had not been kept in a continual fever by the
rashness with which he exposed himself to accidents by flood and field.
At the same time, as she was more interested in observing Morgana
than Morgana was in observing her, she readily perceived the latter's
predilection for Mr. Falconer, and the gradual folding around him of
the enchanted net. These observations, and the manifest progressive
concentration of Lord Curryfin's affections on herself, showed her that
she was not in the way of inflicting any very severe wound on her young
friend's feelings, or encouraging a tendency to absolute hopelessness in
her own.

Lord Curryfin was pursuing his meditations in the pavilion, when the
young lady, whom he had sought there in vain, presented herself before
him in great agitation. He started up to meet her, and held out both his
hands. She took them both, held them a moment, disengaged them, and sat
down at a little distance, which he immediately reduced to nothing. He
then expressed his disappointment at not having previously found her
in the pavilion, and his delight at seeing her now. After a pause,
she said: 'I felt so much disturbed in the morning, that I should
have devoted the whole day to recovering calmness of thought, but for
something I have just heard. My maid tells me that you ar