to acquire a sane judgment. The
youths who are satisfied with the ordinary pleasures of life, and do not
sigh after ideal phantoms of love and friendship, will never arrive at
great maturity of understanding; but if these reveries are cherished,
as is too frequently the case with women, when experience ought to have
taught them in what human happiness consists, they become as useless as
they are wretched. Besides, their pains and pleasures are so dependent
on outward circumstances, on the objects of their affections, that they
seldom act from the impulse of a nerved mind, able to choose its own
pursuit.
Having had to struggle incessantly with the vices of mankind, Maria's
imagination found repose in pourtraying the possible virtues the
world might contain. Pygmalion formed an ivory maid, and longed for an
informing soul. She, on the contrary, combined all the qualities of a
hero's mind, and fate presented a statue in which she might enshrine
them.
We mean not to trace the progress of this passion, or recount how often
Darnford and Maria were obliged to part in the midst of an interesting
conversation. Jemima ever watched on the tip-toe of fear, and frequently
separated them on a false alarm, when they would have given worlds to
remain a little longer together.
A magic lamp now seemed to be suspended in Maria's prison, and fairy
landscapes flitted round the gloomy walls, late so blank. Rushing from
the depth of despair, on the seraph wing of hope, she found herself
happy.--She was beloved, and every emotion was rapturous.
To Darnford she had not shown a decided affection; the fear of
outrunning his, a sure proof of love, made her often assume a coldness
and indifference foreign from her character; and, even when giving way
to the playful emotions of a heart just loosened from the frozen bond of
grief, there was a delicacy in her manner of expressing her sensibility,
which made him doubt whether it was the effect of love.
One evening, when Jemima left them, to listen to the sound of a distant
footstep, which seemed cautiously to approach, he seized Maria's
hand--it was not withdrawn. They conversed with earnestness of their
situation; and, during the conversation, he once or twice gently drew
her towards him. He felt the fragrance of her breath, and longed, yet
feared, to touch the lips from which it issued; spirits of purity seemed
to guard them, while all the enchanting graces of love sported on her
cheeks, a
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