For she being so much left to solitude, she came to greet my return
with an increasing fervour that came nigh to overmaster me. These
friendly offers I must barbarously cast back; and my rejection
sometimes wounded her so cruelly that I must unbend and seek to
make it up to her in kindness. So that our time passed in ups and
downs, tiffs and disappointments, upon the which I could almost say
(if it may be said with reverence) that I was crucified.
The base of my trouble was Catriona's extraordinary innocence, at
which I was not so much surprised as filled with pity and
admiration. She seemed to have no thought of our position, no
sense of my struggles; welcomed any mark of my weakness with
responsive joy; and when I was drove again to my retrenchments, did
not always dissemble her chagrin. There were times when I have
thought to myself, "If she were over head in love, and set her cap
to catch me, she would scarce behave much otherwise;" and then I
would fall again into wonder at the simplicity of woman, from whom
I felt (in these moments) that I was not worthy to be descended.
Pages:
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368