Her beauty, all moulded and mellowed
by feeling, was far more eloquent; but it had none of the virgin
magnificence, the untouched tropical luxuriance, which had fired my
fancy. The false position in which she lived had shaded her expression
with a painful restlessness; and her eye proclaimed that the conflicts
of her mind had strengthened, had deepened, but had not yet hallowed,
her character.
She was, however, interesting, deeply so; one of those rare beings who
fill your eye in every mood. Her passion for music, and the great
excellence she had attained as a performer, drew us together. I was
her daily visitor; but, if my admiration ever softened into
tenderness, it was the tenderness of pity for her unsatisfied heart,
and cold, false life.
But there was one who saw with very different eyes. V---- had been
intimate with Emily some time before my arrival, and every day saw him
more deeply enamored.
_Laurie._ And pray where was the husband all this time?
_Aglauron._ L---- had sought consolation in ambition. He was a
man of much practical dexterity, but of little thought, and less
heart. He had at first been jealous of Emily for his honor's
sake,--not for any reality,--for she treated him with great attention
as to the comforts of daily life; but otherwise, with polite, steady
coldness.
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