commands, or at least
permission, to go on; but as the lady remained silent, he proceeded,
but obviously with caution. "Look around you," he said, "noble lady, and
observe the barriers with which this place is surrounded, the studious
mystery with which the brightest jewel that England possesses is
secluded from the admiring gaze. See with what rigour your walks are
circumscribed, and your movement restrained at the beck of yonder
churlish Foster. Consider all this, and judge for yourself what can be
the cause.

"My lord's pleasure," answered the Countess; "and I am bound to seek no
other motive."

"His pleasure it is indeed," said Varney; "and his pleasure arises out
of a love worthy of the object which inspires it. But he who possesses a
treasure, and who values it, is oft anxious, in proportion to the value
he puts upon it, to secure it from the depredations of others."

"What needs all this talk, Master Varney?" said the lady, in reply. "You
would have me believe that my noble lord is jealous. Suppose it true, I
know a cure for jealousy."

"Indeed, madam?" said Varney.

"It is," replied the lady, "to speak the truth to my lord at all
times--to hold up my mind and my thoughts before him as pure as that
polished mirror--so that when he looks into my heart, he shall only see
his own features reflected there."

"I am mute, madam," answered Varney; "and as I have no reason to grieve
for Tressilian, who would have my heart's blood were he able, I shall
reconcile myself easily to what may befall the gentleman in consequence
of your frank disclosure of his having presumed to intrude upon your
solitude. You, who know my lord so much better than I, will judge if he
be likely to bear the insult unavenged."

"Nay, if I could think myself the cause of Tressilian's ruin," said the
Countess, "I who have already occasioned him so much distress, I might
be brought to be silent. And yet what will it avail, since he was seen
by Foster, and I think by some one else? No, no, Varney, urge it no
more. I will tell the whole matter to my lord; and with such pleading
for Tressilian's folly, as shall dispose my lord's generous heart rather
to serve than to punish him."

"Your judgment, madam," said Varney, "is far superior to mine,
especially as you may, if you will, prove the ice before you step on it,
by mentioning Tressilian's name to my lord, and observing how he endures
it. For Foster and his attendant, they know not Tressilia