ould have sought no ornament but these beautiful
flowers, doubly precious for the feelings of kindness and compassion
that consecrated their mission."

"Compassion, Gabriella! I should as soon think of compassionating the
star that shines brightest in the van of night. Compassion looks down;
kindness implies an equal ground; admiration looks up with the gaze of
the astronomer and the worship of the devotee."

"You forget I am but a simple, village rustic. Such exaggerated
compliments would suit better the brilliant dames of the city. I would
rather a thousand times you would say, 'Gabriella, I do feel kindly
towards you,' than utter any thing so formal, and apparently so
insincere."

I was really hurt. I thought he was mocking my credulity, or measuring
the height and depth of my girlish vanity. I did not want to be compared
to a star, a lone and distant star, nor to think of him as an astronomer
gazing up at me with telescopic eye. My heart was overflowing with
gentle, natural thoughts. I wanted human sympathy, not cold and
glittering compliments.

"And do you expect to hear the language of nature here, with the buzz of
empty tongues and the echo of unmeaning laughs in the ear; where, if a
word of sentiment were over-heard, it would be bandied from lip to lip
with hollow mockery? Come with me into the garden, where the flowers
blush in their folded leaves, beneath the love-light of yon gentle moon,
where the stilly dews whisper sweet thoughts to the listening heart, and
I will tell you what I have learned in Grandison Place, under the elm
tree's shade, by the flower girl in the library, and from a thousand
sources of which you have never dreamed."

He took the hand which rested lightly on his arm, and drawing it closer
to his side led the way to the steps of the piazza. I had dreamed of a
moment like this in the golden reveries of romance, and imagined it a
foretaste of heaven, but now I trembled and hesitated like the fearful
fluttering spirit before the opening gates of paradise. I dared not
yield to the almost irresistible temptation. No figures were gliding
along the solitary paths, no steps were brushing away the dew-stars that
had fallen from the sky. We should be alone in the moonlight solitude;
but the thoughts of Mrs. Linwood and of Edith would find us out.

"No, no!" I cried, shrinking from the gentle force that urged me
forward; "do not ask me now. It would be better to remain where we are.
Do you not